


Those Days Are Gone

by Cake and Pi (Tarrin)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, Background Dick Grayson/Zatanna Zatara - Freeform, Blood, Character Death, Child Abuse, Crossover, Gen, Happy Ending, Memory Loss, Slow Burn, Violence, alternate universe - legend of zelda fusion, past dick grayson/wally west - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2018-03-29 23:17:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 34,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3914347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarrin/pseuds/Cake%20and%20Pi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Artemis took up the Master Sword, she never intended to become the Hero of Time. But she did, and seven long years have passed. Now that she has returned, will she be able to save the land of Hyrule?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizzieonawhim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzieonawhim/gifts).



> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: none

The light did not fade slowly. It faded all at once, leaving her squinting in the dusty chamber. Hazy, flickering light filtered in from an open doorway. A prickling sensation crawled up her back, a sense of being watched, and she was no longer squinting because it was too dark, but because there were no footprints in the dust and _someone was watching her_. She forced herself to remain relaxed, to not give any hint that she’d picked up on it. And yet her heart raced and her fingers twitched, ready to move as soon as the unseen watcher revealed themselves.

“Hello.”

She whirled around, drawing her sword and dropping into a guard stance. The speaker was hidden in the shadows. She could see a dim outline in the darkness, human shaped. The person appeared to have slim build, and the voice was lighter than she’d been dreading. This wasn’t him.

“Woah, easy there. Just wanted to say hi. Been waiting a long time for you, Hero of Time.” She lifted an eyebrow. Hero of Time? That sounded like something Wally would have thought up. It didn’t fit her, not in the least.

“How nice.” She replied, shifting to move further into the shadows herself. This person might not be who she had originally expected, but there was no sense in giving him a brightly lit target. “It’s Tigress, not that ridiculous hero title. And who are you?”

The shadowed figure was silent for a moment, and then shrugged. At least, she thought it did. It was hard to tell. “Nightwing.” The name was unfamiliar, but that wasn’t too surprising. She had been away for seven long years.

“Listen, Hero, er, Tigress. As I’m sure you know, terrible evil has fallen upon these lands. If it is to be stopped, the sages must be woken. And that’s where you come in.”

“Really.” Tigress said dryly. She refrained from pointing out that she already knew that, because then she’d have to explain how she knew. And without knowing which side Nightwing truly stood on, she wasn’t about to do that.

“Well, the legend itself is a bit more poetic. Lots of words like ‘verily’ and 'thou’ and 'shalt’ and such. But the general idea is that you’ve got the Master Sword, so you get the job of awakening the sages and saving Hyrule. Part of being the chosen hero.”

“Uh huh. I don’t suppose it also mentioned showing yourself?”

The shadow chuckled. “No mention of that. By the way, here, catch.”

Instead, she dodged the small object tossed at her. It hummed as it flew in the air. A metallic ring was added as it skidded behind her on the dusty stone floor. She tensed, ready to attack if it was anything deadlier than a deku nut.

“Aw, and here I thought you would trust me. That’s for if you want to get back here quick. You’ll have to use that ocarina of yours, but the tune’s on the wing-ding.”

“Wing. Ding.” She deadpanned, focusing on that rather than how this Nightwing character could possibly know about her having the ocarina. There were only three people who had known, besides herself. Of course, Wally had always been willing to just about talk to anyone.

She swore the shadow was grinning at her. It was definitely chuckling.

“Anyway, since you’re determined to not trust me,” she heard a dramatic sigh, “I suppose I should go and leave you to your own devices. I’ll see you again.” There was a quick movement and then a sharp flash of light. She shielded her eyes - she hoped that was the last time today that she would be half-blinded. When she could see again, she was alone.

Growling and muttering to herself, she sheathed her sword. She noted that Nightwing hadn’t left any footprints in the dust in his exit - so either he could fly or there was another way out of this room. But she held the key to the other exit, so that left flying. That was worrisome. If this Nightwing was an enemy and could fly, things would get ugly fast. Though, at least, he seemed more the type to mess with his opponent’s head before attacking. That was easier to deal with, even if he flew.

She turned to leave and paused. The wing-ding lay in the dust near her, barely catching a stray bit of light. She hesitated for a second, then shrugged and picked it up. It was as light as she expected, from how Nightwing had tossed it and how far it had skidded. It was hollow too - made sense, given the earlier hum it had made. It seemed harmless enough, so she stowed it away. Let Nightwing think she needed it. No need to let him know she already knew the song.

Turning, she strode out of the dark and into the light.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Death, violence, major body injury, blood
> 
> { _italics_ } - telepathic speech

“What was that thing even made of?” Tigress grumbled to herself, rubbing her very bruised shoulder as she reached the top of the tall staircase. The creature had been bigger than the others, and had not yielded the stairs easily. She had not been expecting an answer. The response startled her, and she jumped back, whipping out her sword.

“I see you met the over-sized moblin. I don’t know what it ate to get that big either, but it definitely worked, huh?”

“Nightwing.” She glared and stood. “Are you allergic to the light or something?” A cackling laugh answered her from the dark, deep shadows of an ancient tree. “Why are you here?”

“I figured you would want to check on old friends first.” Tigress stiffened - she had only told Wally she was from the woods, letting him assume she came from hunters and woodsmen that lived near the forest. She hadn’t said a word about her friends to him, so Wally couldn’t have told anyone about this. So how did this person know? How’d he know she had been seeking this particular part of the woods? And, most importantly, how had Nightwing managed to get through the Lost Woods, alive?

“And I had a shortcut. Here.” Nightwing strode forward from the shadows, holding out something in one hand. He was clad in dark armor, suitable for hiding in shadows, and wore a mask. What skin she could see was a little lighter than her own golden brown. Tigress estimated him to be at about 6 feet in height. He barely made a noise as he walked, to her disgust.

“Another wing-ding?” She remarked as she saw what he held.

“Yeah. This one’s got a tune for this area.” With his empty hand, he gestured at an old, moss-covered stone pedestal. “Quicker than feet.” When she made no move to take the wing-ding from him, he sighed and set it down on a nearby rock. Returning to the shadows of the tree he had hidden in earlier, he asked, “What will you do, if she doesn’t recognize you after all this time?”

“If who doesn’t?” Tigress ground out. This stranger seemed to know far too much about her, on top of maybe flying and moving too quietly. How much else did he know? That worried her.

“Time’s… cruel. It goes slow for some and way too fast for others, and leaves us all changed. Even our mem-” He paused, clearing his throat. “Even our memories aren’t untouched. The changes can be… rather difficult.”

Of course he would refuse to give a straight answer. “Okay. Any other cryptic advice?”

“Nope.” Nightwing’s voice, cracking from emotion just before, sounded false and full of forced cheer now. He turned to face her again. “Hope your reunion goes well. Let’s meet again later.” Tigress saw the motion this time and shielded her eyes before the flash of light could blind her.

She ground her teeth at Nightwing’s silent, flashy exit. She picked up the wing-ding carefully. The edges on them were rather sharp and they flew well. She’d discovered that earlier, when she’d been messing around with the first one. It gave her another reason to keep them; she wasn’t about to turn down any additional weaponry.

Looking up at the temple entrance, she could see that there still was no easy way in. The stairs had crumbled long ago, long before she and M'gann had found this place while playing in the woods one day. She knew from experience to not trust what remained of the stone walls. Even as a child the walls had threatened to crumble. She doubted they’d hold her weight now. The only way in would be to use the trees. Someone unfamiliar with the forest might have tried to climb them, unaware of the long, nasty thorns that came with the creeping vines that grew up the trunks of the trees.

But Tigress knew these woods. So she had come prepared.

Putting together what she needed, a tiny part of her wondered why Nightwing had been momentarily upset. It was the same tiny part that wanted an ally in all of this mess, which was silly thing to want since she wasn’t altogether sure he wasn’t an enemy. She put those thoughts to the side - she had not come back to Hyrule to worry over a maybe-enemy, maybe-friend. She already worried enough about one former friend that talked too fast and smiled and trusted too easily, and she hadn’t come back for him either.

Raising her crossbow, she fired and hit her target squarely, a large, solid branch that passed over the crumbling outer walls of the temple. She put the crossbow away and gave the rope she had attached to the bolt a few strong tugs. When nothing budged or fell, she began to pull herself up. The branch lacked the vines that made climbing a difficult prospect. Once she reached the branch, she half-crawled down its length until she reached a point she could jump down into the temple.

Inside, she found wolfos had somehow gotten in. And stalfos. As well as several poe ghosts, though those didn’t seem to have come from outside. Eventually she found a way downstairs to a large, hidden room. It had a raised, circular platform, fenced in by metal chain. Pictures hung on the walls, each showing the same image - a path through a dark forest with a house in the distance. She heard the snick of metal, and turned to see her exit blocked - metal spikes had come out of the floor, too tall to climb over and too closely spaced to slip between. The air seemed to grow heavier, and feet scuffed on the floor behind her, prompting her to turn once more.

Just in time, she saw the lance coming at her. She dodged, rolling and drawing her sword in a smooth practiced motion. She blocked a sideswipe as she came back upright. Her attacker stepped back, twirling the weapon idly, expression unreadable behind the blank, plain mask. She blocked another blow, her blade taking a chunk out of the lance.

They circled each other, trading blows. Then she managed to cut the lance in two. Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth as he tossed the halves aside and pulled off the mask. He held the mask out to the side, dropping it. To her surprise and rising horror, there wasn’t a face under it. Skin and blond hair had pulled away with the mask, leaving behind a skull with glowing red dots set deep inside the eye sockets.

Too late, she noticed that he had not lowered the hand that had held the mask. Energy had pooled into it and now he threw it at her with a wordless shout. She dodged and it scattered harmlessly against the floor. They resumed circled each other once again, only now he chuckled at her as she dodged the flying balls of energy. The floor might withstand them, but she was certain she wouldn’t like the effect they’d have on her. Then she tripped, catching herself on her hands, and he laughed at her - _laughed_ \- as he raised his hand to throw the biggest ball of energy yet. She didn’t have time to get out of its way, so she swung her sword at it, bracing herself for the impact to come.

To her utter surprise, the energy ball bounced back. It seemed shocked her opponent too. He failed to dodge and the energy struck his chest, throwing him off his feet. He fell, shuddering as sparks of energy crawled over his body. Tigress stood slowly, eyes wide and breath harsh. She doubted she would win by parrying energy balls alone. Already the sparks were dying and he seemed to be regaining control of his twitching body. Steeling herself, she strode over and lifted her sword. It fell.

The creature jerked once she thrust the sword into him, then stilled. Very, very slowly, Tigress drew her blade back out. No blood seeped from the wound, and no blood stained her sword. Instead, the body disintegrated before her, sickly green flames slowly consuming it. She felt sick anyway. Had that truly been him? Or was it just a fake, created to toy with her?

“Well done, defeating that little puppet.” A voice she knew all too well boomed out from nowhere. She jumped a little, startled, but didn’t take her eyes from the crumbling before her. She knew the voice’s owner would not be here. “You passed the first test, little hero. Perhaps you might even survive to meet me again.”

The voice laughed deeply, and the sound echoed through the chamber. It faded, and nothing more was said, to Tigress’s relief. She watched the body til it was completely gone. A puppet? That meant a fake. The real one was still around somewhere, then. Maybe. For some minutes afterward, she stayed on guard, uncertain if anything else would be forthcoming. When nothing happened beyond her exit reopening, she sheathed her sword.

The sound of it seemed to be a signal. { _Who’s there?_ } A new voice demanded suddenly, echoing in her mind rather than her ears.

Tigress’s eyes widened, her hand going back to her sword hilt, but she didn’t draw it. She looked around slowly, eyes sweeping the gloom for this new potential threat. There was nothing. But that hardly meant anything, in this crumbling temple that was home to malevolent ghosts and still-walking skeletons. A few of those had still been able to manage words. But they had had an entire different feel to them from this voice. There was a sense of familiarity was here, something that hinted of green growth and mischief. She knew this voice, she was certain.

“M'gann?” She whispered, licking suddenly dry lips. She felt something look - though not in any physical sense - at her closely, peering into her mind. It was a strange feeling, as it had always been, not painful but not comfortable either.

{ _ARTEMIS? Oh,_ Artemis.} M'gann’s mental voice gasped. { _You’re_ alive.}

“What? Of course I am. M'gann, where are you? Goddesses, why are you even here?”

{ _Ah, well, there was that spirit. It had to be contained._ } Something suspiciously like a sob filtered through M'gann’s mental link. { _Though you seem to have finished the job now. As for where… That’s a bit… Hm._ }

“A bit what?”

{ _Let me in your mind. It’ll be easier to explain._ }

Tigress looked around, then shrugged. She sat down on the stairs - she didn’t want to be trapped again in that area with the pictures - and closed her eyes. Slowly she lost her sense of her surroundings as M'gann drew their minds together.

M'gann explained as much as she could about what had happened in the past seven years while Artemis, now Tigress, had been gone. It mostly concerned the woods, as M'gann rarely ventured outside of them. But what she did know of the other parts of Hyrule was troubling. As far as M'gann could tell, all of Hyrule had fallen into darkness when Artemis had taken the Master Sword. Even Roy, busy guarding the main path to the temple ruins, was out of reach of M'gann’s telepathy.

{ _I’m just tired. What with keeping the worse spirits of the temple inside and all._ }

{ _Jeez, after seven years of that, of course you’d be in top form._ } Tigress had teased. She thought for a moment and then suggested slowly, { _Death Mountain is as good a next destination as any other._ } Conner and M'gann had become fast friends after Artemis’s visit to the mountain. From the relief she felt flooding in from her childhood friend, she guessed that was still true.

{ _Really? Oh, that’d be_ wonderful! _Thank you, Artemis!_ }

Tigress had smiled at M'gann’s reaction and subsequent mental hugs. But she’d had to interrupt it for more serious concerns, to warn M'gann about what would be coming, now that she had awakened as the Forest Sage. And then she had to leave, far too soon for her liking, leaving M'gann behind, hidden deep inside the temple. Tigress stepped out of the temple and jumped to the ground. She blinked rapidly in the sunlight, sparse though it was, eyes watering in its brightness after the dimness of the temple - not at all because she had left M'gann mere moments after realizing one of her dearest friends was still alive.

Wiping her eyes on her gloved hands, she made her way out of the woods. She had one more place to visit, even if she really shouldn’t since she was no longer - had never actually been - a Kokiri. But she went anyway, to what had once been the Great Deku Tree. It stood as tall as she remembered, though now the gaping hole she'd once walked through she'd have to crawl through, if she wanted to access the caverns hidden under the tree’s roots. “Hey there old friend. Tell Ollie hello for me.” She murmured, pressing a hand softly to the dead wood. Of course, it wouldn’t be able to - it had died soon after she’d left Hyrule. And Ollie’s life, linked to the tree’s, had followed. She sighed and turned to go when someone came around from the other side of the tree.

“Hey! You! Get away from there!” The newcomer shouted. “Or this goes through your heart.” A bow was aimed at her, though it wasn’t so much held as attached to a missing arm.

“ _Roy?_ ” Tigress couldn’t help but goggle. “But you… I mean, you… um. Arm?” She finished lamely. She seen him scarcely two days ago. He’d somehow grown shorter since. And misplaced most of an arm.

The red-head scowled. “What about it? How do you know my name?”

“You used to have two.” Tigress replied, baffled, ignoring the second question. What had happened in just two days?

“So? Wait. Why do you remind me of someone annoying?” The shorter than remembered Roy straightened, frowning. “You. It can’t be. Artemis?”

Tigress stared. “What happened to you, Roy?”

“It is you! Why, goddesses?!” Roy shouted at the sky. There was a pause as he lowered his gaze again to glare at her with narrowed eyes. Finally he ground out, “I. Don’t. Like. You.”

Tigress snorted. If this wasn’t Roy after all, it was a good likeness. “Okay, fine. Going then.” She had taken five paces when she heard Roy speak softly.

“It was the barrier. It went down, when Oll- when the Great Deku Tree died. And then monsters overran the village. Even if M'gann hadn’t disappeared, we wouldn’t have been enough. As it is, I’m just one person.”

Tigress turned back to face him. “That doesn’t explain your arm.” She supposed he could have lost it while she was in the temple, but that wouldn’t explain why he didn’t seem to be in pain, even with fairy healing. And he looked practiced at using the bow attachment.

He sighed and rubbed at the remains of his right arm. “Some of the younger ones were cornered. I got… very lucky.” He swallowed hard. “They got me over here, after, so maybe what little power was still there could heal me, but.” He shrugged.

“Goddesses.” She whispered, dismayed. She and Roy had never gotten along but the thought of him coming that close to dying pinched at her.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Bled enough here, though, that I think I accidentally bonded with the tree.”

“What? It’s dead, Roy, you couldn’t have bonded with-”

“The Great Tree is dead. Its sapling isn’t.” Roy interrupted, turning back to scowl at her. He made a small gesture towards a small, young sapling she hadn’t noticed earlier, hidden between two of the great tree’s massive roots. “Who knows, maybe it’s not a sapling and just a still-living part of the great tree. Either way, there’s enough of a bond there that I can power the barrier. It’s exhausting but it’s better than nothing.”

Tigress stared at him crossly. What Roy was suggesting was ludicrous, Roy already had a tree, how could he bond to a second one? And yet… this seemed to be an entirely different person from the Roy she’d met out in the Lost Woods, though he was just as infuriating as this one. Tigress wondered if Roy knew, but she thought not. The woods, after all, were still standing.

Roy attempted to cross his arms, remembered this didn’t work anymore, and settled for glaring at Tigress again instead. “And maybe it doesn’t work very well, but it keeps the moblins and stalfos out. Humans too. Aside from you, apparently. Always knew there was something off about you.”

Tigress sighed. It had been almost nice, not insulting each other for a few minutes. “Listen. What you said before about M'gann. She’s safe. She’s at the old ruins, keeping the nastier creatures in there from coming here.”

“Huh. Well, she was always more useful than you were. At least you finally found a proper sword.” Roy huffed. Tigress smiled tightly.

“So… you going to explain the other you anytime soon?” She asked after a pause. She was tempted to let it go - the idea of two Roys arguing with her at once was horrible - but then the idea of two Roys arguing with each other was fascinating. Even if it was something that should only probably be viewed from very far away.

He gawped at her like she’d grown a second head. “The other me?” He repeated slowly. “There’s anoth-” He started to repeat again but stopped himself. “Where is this impostor?”

“I’m not sure it’s an impostor Roy, he -”

“WHERE?!”

“The Lost Woods.”

“He won’t be there much longer.” Roy snarled before stalking off.

Tigress trailed slowly behind him, letting the red head get far ahead. she was tempted to watch, but then she’d be a likely outside target. And one Roy was hard enough to deal with. He could take care of himself. She nodded, putting the question of what would happen to Roy and Roy from her mind.

To ensure she avoided him completely, she walked back through the village rather than around. She had soon drew a crowd of every remaining Kokiri, though unlike Roy and M'gann, these didn’t recognize her. Each seemed determined to, at the very least, remark on how very tall she was. Some of them wanted her to show off some sword moves. Some tried to convince her to go into the Lost Woods - she refused them, knowing the trap lying in the seemingly innocent words. She was not about to become a stalfos, not with so much she still had to accomplish.

Eventually she made it through the small throng, leaving them behind as she left the small clearing, walking fast as if that would make the ache in her heart leave sooner. She slowed as she crossed the rope bridge and paused in the center. Seven years ago she’d left across this same bridge, and now she was leaving again. But M'gann wasn’t here to say goodbye this time. She turned, taking one last look at what used to be her home before leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ollie ;_;
> 
> And yes, that's Roy (Red Arrow) and Roy (Arsenal).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: memory loss, depressive thoughts

The first time Alfred had tried to make tea after dark, Dick put it down to nerves. Tea - making it, drinking it, the rituals around it - was soothing after all. The sounds had woken Dick up, and he came out to sit with the older man. It took him a moment, once Alfred had served them both tea - Wally was fast sleep in the other room, exhausted - to realize why it only tasted like hot water. Even Alfred seemed surprised by it.

They laughed over it, both of them putting it down to exhaustion. It was late, they’d been chased by Vandal Savage’s minions all day and most of the day before. It made it easy to forget things. When their hideout was discovered before daybreak, and they had to move again, Dick forgot about it.

Then Dick became Nightwing, and Alfred had stared for a long, long moment, turning his head this way and that. When he finally commented - “such a dark outfit, young man, are you going to a funeral?” - it had seemed a joke, if more morbid than Alfred’s usual tastes.

And then Alfred had fallen, and the healer they had taken him to had questions, and Dick couldn’t remember, anymore, the last time Alfred’s hands had been steady. He’d refused to listen when the healer told him what was probably happening, how things would likely progress. He heard, but he didn’t listen, because that would have made it true, and Alfred was all the family he had left. And he refused to let that be true.

Except that hadn’t been his choice, and it was hurt worse than when he’d seen Bruce killed before him, Savage smirking down at him.

Because Alfred was still here, except, except…

_“I’m sorry, but guests aren’t allowed in this wing of the castle. Please leave.”_

Except that it had been years since they’d been at the castle. Except that it was Dick that he was talking to.

_“Hello there sir, are you here for tea?”_

The worst of it was, even if they managed to win, even if he could fix his mistakes, even if he could put things to right…

_“Are you lost?”_

…this would just happen again.

_“Who are you?”_

* * *

The notes faded slowly as Nightwing materialized in the gloomy night. A breath later, and he was gone. A sharp eye might have caught the barest hint of a shadow slinking through the shadows, but that same sharp eye would have also drawn the attention of the restless poes that roamed freely in these last moments before dawn.

After half an hour of sneaking - only a ten minute walk for people who weren’t as paranoid as him - Nightwing came to a small, sturdy house. It was set a fair distance back from the rest of the village, guarded by several unassuming plants. He’d tried to take an indirect path to the house once. He had yet to try that again.

Fifteen minutes later and he outside the house again, sitting near the herb garden at the rear of the house. Next to him Wally chewed idly on some jerky, humming some tune, badly off-key. The sun tried to make itself known through hazy clouds.

“Sorry.” Nightwing took off his mask and rubbed his eyes tiredly. A year since Alfred had had what the healer had called a stroke - the word stuck in his throat as if it were some nasty thing - since the older man had suddenly fallen, since Nightwing had stopped just living a nightmare and began breathing it too. If they were lucky, the doctor had said, Alfred would have several years left. Nightwing wasn’t sure they were lucky anymore.

All too soon he’d be back in the house, to help the healer care for an Alfred who, with increasing frequency, couldn’t remember him. A sick desire to go somewhere, anywhere else, to leave Alfred in the healer’s care alone, throbbed dully in his chest. And it made him feel small and awful. As it was, he’d be forced to do that soon enough. How dare he wish for that day sooner?

Wally actually paused for a second in his chewing, considering his friend’s sudden, unprompted apology. “Dude, it’s Alfred. No sorry’s allowed.” Wally said quietly, watching his friend sharply for a few seconds continuing in a more normal tone. “As for the rest? That’s all old stuff. Water under the bridge. Unless, of course, you’re going back down that path of using people without asking and need me to punch you back to sensibility again. Free of charge.”

That startled a laugh out of Nightwing. “Thanks buddy.” He lowered his hand from his face, though he didn’t put his mask back on.

“Hey, what are friends for?” For a few minutes, there was a quiet broken only by Wally’s chewing.

“I really do need to use you for something, though.”

“Oh?”

“Need to get a message to Kaldur.”

“… You have the magic song stuff going for you, why didn’t you do that first? In fact, why don’t you go do that now?”

“Because, Wally.” Nightwing interrupted. “If I’m wrong about what’s going to happen soon, I need to be here to know. And if I’m right… you’ll want to kill me.”

“Um, I’m fairly certain that the only reason I’d want to kill you is if you went over to the other side. I hope that’s not what we’re talking about here.”

Nightwing shook his head. “No. But I do think you’re wrong about that being the only reason.”

Wally sighed. “Whatever. What message?”

Soon after, Wally had left. He couldn’t run at his top speed, or rather, he normally avoided it, with food having gotten expensive after King Bruce’s assassination and Savage’s rise to power. But he was still faster than almost everyone he knew, and it only took a day to get to Lake Hylia even at this slower speed.

Kaldur frowned when he heard the message. “Watch?” He asked, crossing his arms. Wally lay on the grass of the small island that stood in the middle of the sunken lake, resting his feet.

“Yep. That was the entire thing. Just - ‘watch’. So what’s it mean and what sort of food you got around here?” Kaldur jerked his head at the sky.

“It means, watch. And there’s all sorts of fish.”

“Seriously? He sent me all the way over here just to tell you to watch the sky?” Wally huffed. “And only fish?” Kaldur hid a smile at the whine in Wally’s voice, and had begun to reply when the sky brightened suddenly.

“Well, didn’t have to watch for long.” Kaldur murmured instead. Wally scrambled to his feet, nearly falling over in his haste.

The clouds that had obscured the sky for so long were disappearing. They streamed across the sky, as if Death Mountain - which had spewed ash and dust and smoke for so long - were calling them home and sucking them back in, leaving a painfully brilliant blue sky. For a second, Wally forgot how to breath. “Well. He was right. I am going to kill him. Slowly. And thoroughly.” He murmured softly, hands shaking. There was only one reason the sky would change like that.

Kaldur snorted. “Perhaps wait until we have won?” He suggested, but Wally wasn’t there to hear him, already speeding across the bridges back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Violence
> 
>  _Paragraphs of italics_ \- flashbacks

Wally knew he should slow down. He’d hardly had enough food for the run to Lake Hylia; he definitely didn’t have enough to justify going this fast now. Pushing this hard would ensure he’d spend at least a day, maybe two, in agony as he recovered… but that would be later. And he wanted, _needed_ , to be up the mountain, _now_. To see that it really was her, that she really was back. (He also needed to punch Nightwing in the face for not telling him she was back, but that could come later.) Crashing would be a small price to pay.

A hissing sound flew by his ear, and a second later an arrow sprouted from the ground behind him. “Aw, crud. Do _not_ have time for this.” He ground his teeth as he saw a group of moblins near the top of the next hill. Some of them were mounted and were riding towards him. “Wonderful.”

He changed course, increasing his speed again - never mind that he couldn’t afford how fast he’d already been going, never mind the growing gnawing feeling in his stomach, never mind - and whirled around the moblins, grabbing weapons from hands, tripping them, knocking them from their mounts. By the time they were all down, he’d raised a huge cloud of dust and was beyond tired. Grimacing, he took stock of his store of energy and figured that he might be able to make it to the ranch before he collapsed. And while he didn’t really want to go back there, it did beat sleeping under a bush.

* * *

_“Hey there! Remember me from Castle Town? I’m Wally but you already knew that - I didn’t catch your name though.” He left the horses he'd been tending, trotting towards the young blond girl he had met a day before._

_“It’s Artemis.” He grinned widely at her._

_“Cool. Want to see something awesome?”_

_She raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He gave her another grin and backed up a few steps. “Okay, watch closely!” He turned away from her and crouched low to ground._

_“Here goes!” He shouted, taking off into a run around the horse corral._

_“Seriously?” He hears the murmur, just barely. Then the sound of rushing air filled his ears as he picked up enough speed to turn the rest of the world into a smear of color._

_He lapped the corral twice before skidding to a halt near her. “Woah. That was... awesome.” She sounded like she was trying to hide how impressed she was._

_Breathing hard, he asked, still grinning, “Wasn’t that great? They call me Kid Flash, I’m so fast - though really, they could leave off the kid part. We should think up some heroic name for you too.”_

_Artemis seemed to realize her was jaw hanging open and shut it quickly. “More like kid_ showoff _.” She scoffed. “And I don’t need a hero name - I like Artemis just fine. And why am I suddenly a ‘hero’ now?”_

_“Well, you’ve got a bow! And heroes’ need a secret identity!” He countered, appalled at her refusal to go along with his idea._

_She crossed her arms. “Why?”_

_“Why? Why? Because it… well because!” He threw his arms in the air, frustrated._

_“That’s your brilliant counterpoint? 'Because’?” She returned with a small grin. It was his turn to scowl at her._

_“Wally! Food!” A woman’s voice called out from the ranch’s main building, interrupting Wally’s retort._

_“YES!” He punched the air enthusiastically, the important discussion of heroic identities forgotten, and ran off, shouting behind him, “You come have some too Artemis!”_

_“Ugh. Why did I come here again?” He pretended to not hear her mutter, as she trailed after him despite the protest._

* * *

_“Get it to open its mouth, crash kid!”_

_“You want it to_ bite _me?! Okay I know we argue but isn’t that taking things just a bit too far?”_

_“Just shut up and run!” She frantically uprooted an explosive bomb flower from the dirt, trying to not set it off in her haste. She grinned savagely as it pulled free. Hurriedly she shoved it onto a arrow and aimed at the beast, waiting for it to open its maw._

_She fired, the arrow flying straight into the center of the massive target despite the extra weight. She grinned, despite the terror that still coursed through her veins. When the bomb flower exploded and visibly stunned the creature, she laughed._

_“Nice shooting, but do you think you could try harder to miss me next time?” Wally gasped, sweat pouring down his face. He had come to rest next to her, bent over and gasping for air, hands on his knees as if standing upright was too much effort._

_“Stop whining, I didn’t even come close to hitting you.” She snorted. “Think you can do it again?”_

_“WHAT? That came within inches of me!”_

_Rolling her eyes, she bent down to work on uprooting another flower - the giant dodongo seemed to be recovering already. “Like I said - not even close, kid complainer. Can you do it again?”_

_He scowled at her. “Yeah, maybe,_ if _I had more fuel to burn. But I’m clean out.”_

_“Fuel?” She glanced up at briefly, frowning in confusion._

_“Food. Can’t run on empty stomach.” He explained._

_“Oh for the love of - here.” Against her better judgement, she reached in her tunic and tossed him a small bag. “Eat these.”_

_“You were holding out on me!” He accused her jokingly, shaking the pouch at her. When that started off a series of small pops, he yelped, almost dropping it. “What are you trying to feed me?!”_

_Bomb flower in hand, Artemis stood, ignoring Wally’s whining. Then she saw the dodongo start to curl up into a ball, and grabbed Wally’s wrist. “Come on,_ move it, _slowpoke!” She ran, pulling him along._

 _“I_ told _you I need to -” he cut himself off when the sounds of something very large and very heavy rolling towards them caught up with his brain._

_“Need - to - what?”_

_“Need to - run!” He put on a burst of speed - hunger and later consequences be damned, he was NOT going to be made into mega-lizard fried pancake! After a second’s thought, he scooped up Artemis before truly taking off. Artemis seemed the sort of person who would make him seriously regret leaving her to be flattened and fried. Not that he cared about her opinion of him, it was that if he did leave her to certain doom, she would be certain to break every bone of his that she could. And then get his parents to agree he deserved it and take away his dessert privileges._

_“See? You just needed inspiration.” She said, almost conversationally, as she prepared another bomb arrow. “Okay stop, it’s done rolling for the moment.”_

_“Should have just left you to be smushed” he gasped, skidding to a stop. He set her down and collapsed in agony. She ignored him and took aim._

_“Eat your deku nuts, kid fast.”_

_“What? Oh yeah, food!” Sitting up, he grabbed a handful of fluffy, white things from the pouch and stuffed his mouth. “Hey, this stuff’s pretty good. Needs butter or something, but good!” He exclaimed while chewing. He upended the pouch into his mouth and practically inhaled the food._

_She fired as the dodongo began to inhale, and then nudge Wally with a foot. “We still got a giant lizard that wants to eat us, so if you could finish snack time here?”_

_“_ Snack time _? Listen, sure shot - ”_

_“That’s not an insult you know.”_

_“You’re not an insult! Wait, that didn’t even make sense.”_

_“Wally.”_

_“You’re an insult - there, that’s better!”_

_“_ WALLY _!”_

_“What?”_

_“Run!”_

* * *

_“Did you_ have _to eat all my deku nuts?” Artemis grumbled._

_“I was hungry - starved! I hadn’t had any food for hours! And you said I could eat them!” Wally protested._

_“Only some!”_

_“But -”_

_“And there aren’t any deku plants around here so I’ll have to go back to the forest to get more!” She huffed and glared at her companion._

_“I’ll go with you!” Wally volunteered generously as they emerged from the dodongo caverns._

_“You both are back.” A voice said, startling them both. “Sorry, it’s just me.” What they had assumed was just a boulder moved._

_“Oh, it’s Conner.” Wally grinned at the goron who’d tasked them with clearing the caverns of the kryptonite infused dodongos. “What are you doing?”_

_“Waiting to see if either of you even survived.” Conner stated flatly. Wally made a face._

_“I think we’ve fixed your problem. At least, on the way back, the dodongos seemed far more docile. And smaller.” Artemis said. “You promised - the spiritual stone.” She held out her hand._

_Conner nodded but held up a hand. “Wait.” He curled up once more and rolled into the caverns._

_“Really dude?” Wally called after him. “And what am I supposed to eat while we wait?” He poked at his stomach mournfully._

_Artemis snorted. “You ate an entire day’s worth of my food in under five minutes.” She reminded him._

_“You aren’t going to let that go, are you?” He sighed and dropped to the ground._

_“Not until I have more, nope.” She grinned at him, then frowned when he didn’t respond. “You okay?”_

_“Huh? Oh, yeah. Just hungry.” He wiped sweat from his face, leaning against what seemed to be an actual boulder, not a goron, so he wouldn't have to worry about his balance as much. “I just get like this when I don’t have enough food for too long. My cousin Bart calls it 'crashing’. And I am sorry I ate all your food - just… I can’t do all that running around really fast on top of not eating for hours and be fine.” He glanced up at her and then away. “I’ll be fine. Just need to eat a little, that’s all.”_

_Artemis opened her mouth, then snapped it shut, apparently rethinking what she was going to say. “Eh. Deku nuts are easy enough to gather. Don’t worry about it.” She crossed her arms and looked away. “So your ability does have its downsides.”_

_He snorted. “Yeah. Oh look, I think Super-Rock is coming back.”_

_“Must you give ‘hero name’ to everyone you meet?”_

_“Yes! And I don’t do it to everyone.” Wally sniffed, giving her his best indignant look as Conner rolled up to them._

_“It is fixed. Thank you.” Conner said, standing up. “Here you are.” He held out a brilliantly red ruby set in gold to Artemis. As she took it and stowed it away, he asked, “You were talking about going to the forest earlier. After the song you played earlier, I wish to see it. May I come with you?”_

_Wally and Artemis exchanged a look. “I don’t see why not,” Artemis answered. “Only, either of you wander off to get eaten by a wolfos, I am not saving your sorry butts.”_

_Conner tilted his head. “What’s a wolfos?”_

_Wally, standing up, shook his head. “Fast evil fuzzy things with a bad bite.”_

_Artemis rolled her eyes as the three of them headed down the mountain. “Wally exaggerates - they aren’t evil, just not at all friendly. You two just stick with me so you don’t die in the woods, okay?”_

* * *

Tigress stretched widely, admiring the view of Hyrule from the top of Death Mountain. Conner sat nearby, resting after giving her a lift out of the volcano. “So both you and M'gann are sages then?”

“Seems that way. Could care less about this sacred duty business, but at least M'gann’s okay; I was getting worried.”

“That’s sweet.”

Conner cleared his throat and changed the subject. “How’s that friend of yours, the one that talked a lot?”

“I don’t know about Wally. He wasn’t at his family’s ranch when I visited.” She frowned. She had went to Wally’s home before she had even gone to the woods, thinking to borrow a horse to make the trip quicker. But then she’d found the farm being run by his uncle Daniel. And while she had obtained ownership - well, okay, technically stolen - Wally’s favorite horse before she left, she’d found no hint of Wally there, nor his parents.

“You remember meeting Wally’s horse?” Conner nodded. Tigress grinned. “He apparently decided to name her Wolf, since you asked if it was a wolfos.” Conner snorted.

“Should’ve named her Horse.”

Tigress smiled. “Yeah.”

There was an easy, companionable silence for a moment. But then Conner noticed something odd. “What’s that?” He pointed towards the hills that hid Lake Hylia. A cloud of dust rose from the hills - whatever was causing it was too far away to be seen.

Tigress gnawed on her lip. “What’s over there besides the lake?”

“Enemy soldiers, maybe?”

“Would be a lot of them to raise so much dirt.” Tigress glanced down to her left, where the snaking blue line that was the river that led to Zora’s Domain caught her eye. Well, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t been retracing her steps from seven years ago anyway.

“Well, I think I’ll take that as a sign that it’s time for me to get going.” Tigress said. “Good luck.”

“You too… Tigress.” It had taken some time to get through - gorons apparently rarely changed their names - but he had, eventually, accepted that she wasn’t to be called Artemis.

Conner turned and jumped back down into the volcano. Tigress rolled her shoulders and did a check of her gear before setting off down the mountain to Goron City. If she remembered correctly, there was a path there she could use to go directly to the forest, and from there to Zora’s Domain.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: (handling of) spiders

It had been a few months since he'd been here. But that had only been to nip in and out during the night, a quick check on Wolf and a quieter, quicker theft of some food. It had been years since he'd come here for shelter, though, and it put him on edge as he slipped over the fence in the dark and trotted over to the storage shed. He was already shaking from exhaustion, and this last dredge of excitement, energizing though it was, was a false strength and his legs felt like rubber. But he couldn't pass out yet; he had to make it inside before he collapsed.

He hadn't hid in the shed since he'd left the ranch for good, and he scowled at the skulltulas that had moved in. Fortunately they weren't very large, barely a single hand-length tall, and he picked them up by their exoskeletons and chucked them outside. Then he closed the door and fell into the closest bed of straw, just managing to keep himself from braining himself on the stone floor.

He woke briefly when the sound of cuckoos crowing filtered through the walls. Head spinning with sleep, he tried to remember why he felt the need to wake up, why this definitely safe spot wasn't safe. Groaning with effort, he pushed himself onto his elbows, looking around blearily til the answer filtered through. He was only in the shed, not the shed's shed. Hiding place. Thing. He forced his body to crawl over to the straw-hidden tunnel and slowly pulled himself through into the cramped secret room. Then he curled up to sleep again, exhaustion swamping him once more.

The next time he woke, it wasn't because of cuckoos or, thankfully, the scuffling of shoes. It was his stomach, growling loudly that it hadn't had food in far too long and needed more. _Now._ Fortunately, he had quite a stash here, from long ago when he would duck chores, and more often, his uncle. Several full jars surrounded him, some filled to the brim with food and others, with better seals, full of water. He pried one open, spilling its contents greedily into his hand, and stuffed his face.

Much of it was some sort of nut, deku or otherwise, which kept quite well for years when stored properly. Artemis had shown him how to store them, during their adventure with Kaldur in retrieving the Zora's Sapphire, when she realized that general wilderness survival wasn't one of his skills.

That was before he'd lost her.

His chewing slowed as the memory overtook him.

It had been dark and raining when they'd returned with the hard won brilliant jewel. They'd been teasing each other, Artemis laughing at him - he couldn't remember what he'd been saying but she had been laughing, he remembered that much - and then a horse with both the prince and Alfred had galloped past, soon followed by another in pursuit. The prince had thrown an ocarina, of all things, at them as the horse had galloped past. Wally had left her, chasing after the horses as if there was something he could have done to help. And when he had finally gotten back, she was gone.

He hadn't thought about that much recently. The anger and guilt from back then had faded over the years, though at the time he'd been furious enough to punch the royal heir and break off their friendship. He'd been that angry, when he found out how Dick had used Artemis on some wild guess that it would 'save' Hyrule - and look how that turned out! Okay, so he was still angry, sometimes. But it was an old anger, one he knew how to calm and put back to rest, and if he didn't dwell on Dick's part in what had happened, it didn't wake.

Two years had passed after Artemis's disappearance before Wally had sought out Dick and Alfred again. But that was after his parents had left, leaving him behind - though he'd chosen to stay so it wasn't like _that_ , not really - and uncle Daniel had taken over the ranch instead. That hadn't been too bad at first. Except that over the years since the ranch had changed ownership, it had slowly shifted to supporting the one who'd usurped the crown, til he couldn't stand it anymore and he'd ran.

Eventually he had gone in search of and found Alfred, made up with Dick, and somehow become part of the tiny resistance movement. Supposedly, according to Dick, Artemis would be back. She had only disappeared because of the Master Sword and was safe in the Sacred Realm. When it was time, she would be returned to Hyrule to save the land from evil.

Wally had a hard time putting faith into the legends and prophecies Di - no, it was Nightwing for now, had to remember that - was drawing from, even before seven years of waiting for 'the time' for her return. But then, it was all he had to set against her being gone for good. So he'd forced it to be enough. She would be back. He could apologize for running off, for leaving her behind, for not noticing that the second rider had stopped pursuit and turned back. And she could mangle his 'kid flash' nickname and show off her ridiculously awesome archery skills again. And then everything would be okay.

And now she was back, at least he thought so since he hadn't actually seen her - because Nightwing had sent him off to Lake Hylia rather than bothering to actually tell him like a best friend should. But it had to be Artemis, _had to_ \- the way the skies had changed suddenly, the temple in Death Mountain must have been purged of evil. The only way to do that was with the Master Sword, and Artemis was the only person who could use it - she'd was the one who'd taken the sword from its resting place. So it had to be her. Had to.

So why hadn't Nightwing told him?

 _"If I'm wrong about what's going to happen soon, I need to be here to know. And if I'm right... you'll want to kill me."_ Nightwing had said that to him before he'd left.

So didn't that mean Nightwing knew and had sent him off anyway? Anything else didn't make sense. Well, maybe it did in a worst case scenario of Artemis failing in the temple... Wally's thoughts shied away from where that ultimately led. As for the other bit, about being right - Nightwing must have believed Artemis would make it. Nightwing was paranoid, had every right to be, so maybe he had thought saying it out loud would guarantee failure?

Wally tried to keep his mind on that, not on the little misgivings that plagued him whenever he thought too much about how much faith they were putting on mere legend. They pulled at his mind though, and he suddenly found he was no longer hungry as the doubting thoughts made their way to the forefront and lingered.

What if Nightwing was wrong?

What if Artemis hadn't been safe in the Sacred Realm?

What if that wasn't where'd she gone?

What if there was a way to change who could use the Master Sword?

What if... what if it wasn't Artemis that had come back?

Stomach churning, he slowly put his down food and curled up, trying to focus on something, anything else.

Two days later and Wally felt much better physically, if not in spirit. He was also thoroughly tired of living off of only nuts and water. He wasn't in top form, but he hadn't been since over a year ago, when he'd found a purple rupee and had actually been able to buy a decent amount of food. He crawled through the tunnel once more, noting that he was getting too big to really use this as a hiding place anymore, and cautiously peeked out of the shed. It was still before dawn. He could risk a visit to Wolf.

He slipped out, closing the door quietly, and sped to the horse stables. He'd check on Wolf, maybe grab some food from one of the barns, and then he'd be back to Kakariko in a flash. He grabbed a lantern off its hook from beside the stable door and turned its flame down low, so he could see in the stables without waking the horses. He walked instead of ran past occupied stalls, whispering Wolf's name. He didn't want to startle any of the horses. The last thing he needed was to - oh. _Shit._

A figure leaned against the far wall, where there was a single empty stall. Wally's heartbeat quickened as the figure bent over, light flaring as the other person lit their own lamp. Wally's uncle Daniel straightened and crossed his arms, staring at his nephew.

"Well. Come back to steal some more, have we?"

* * *

The room was a menacing kind of barren. Tigress drew her sword before the door had time to close. A vague sense of unease crawled up her back as she hear the snick of the latch catching. A single dead tree stood on an island in the middle, the rest of the floor covered in a thin layer of filmy water from which rose a faint mist. She could see another door beyond the tree - though how far beyond was difficult to gauge, she couldn't discern any walls, the floor seeming to go on forever.

Tense and on guard despite the emptiness around her, Tigress slowly made her way across the room. When she got to the other door, it was locked. Tigress swallowed curse and turned, eyes giving the room another sweep for some sort of hidden puzzle. There’d certainly been plenty so far in this damp, watery temple. Most of them, she felt, were made with no regard to anyone who wasn’t a Zora or could otherwise breath underwater.

Certainly Kaldur wouldn’t have nearly drowned thrice by now. But he had swum off soon after greeting her, with no hint if he recognized her as M’gann had. She didn’t think so - it had been so long since they'd last met - but she preferred being certain. _She_ had, after all, recognized Kaldur.

Something at the edge of her vision shifted, and Tigress froze, thoughts returning to the present. Was that movement on that island? She resettled her sword in her hand, feeling better for having something even just marginally more concrete than just a sense of looming threat, and walked back towards the dead tree.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warnings: Abusive language/actions, violence, blood, death, fear of falling, fear of heights
> 
> { _italics_ } - telepathic speech

“Uncle! You’re up early!” Wally grinned stiffly. His uncle stared down at him impassively, the lantern throwing craggy, flickering shadows across his face. “It’s so nice to see you again. But I’ll be going now, bye!” He was already backing away as he spoke; he turned and fled when he finished. Wally’s feet had barely met the ground outside the stable when he fell, the lantern flying from his hold. He rolled over on his back , the sound of glass shattering in his ears even as he registered a heavy weight hitting his chest. He made his eyes focus; a boot pressed him into the dirt, one attached to his uncle.

“Leaving already, nephew? And before breakfast too.” The man sneered down at Wally.

“Well I’d hate to eat and run, but if you insist -”

“Shut up.” The boot pressed harder into Wally’s chest. “Where’s the horse?”

Wally gritted his teeth to keep from hissing in pain. “Horse?”

“Yes, horse. The one with the ridiculous name - Wool? Warf? Ah, that was it. Wolf. The horse you treat better than family. I want it back.” His uncle’s voice was a menacing rumble in the dimness of pre-dawn.

Wally knew that talking back to his uncle was a bad idea, even when he wasn’t within striking distance. He couldn’t stop the words from falling out though. “Wolf’s not an it. And I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The pressure on his chest lifted then pressed back down again. “Of course you pretend you don’t know anything. Fits in with the rest of your lazy behavior. Though even I didn’t think you were so lazy as to get one of your rebel friends to steal for you. Congratulations on the new low - too lazy to do your own thievery.”

The man leaned down, pulling Wally to his feet by his shirt, and shoved Wally against the stable. “Listen close, boy. Until your little blonde girlfriend with the sword brings back my horse, and you’re staying here and doing some real work for once, understand? Pay me back for all those years you lazed about doing nothing to earn your keep.”

Wally made himself smile. “Sure!” He said brightly. As obviously false as he knew his cheerfulness was, it wasn’t what his uncle had been expecting, and the man’s grip loosened for just a second. It was all that Wally needed.

“You… HEY!”

Pulling free, Wally tuned out his uncle’s shouting and made a mad dash for the road to Castle Town. As he did, his uncle’s words turned over in his mind. A blonde swordswoman? Who could have handled Wolf and lived? He didn’t know anyone like that.

The sound of someone running close behind him - far too close - brought his attention back to the present. Wally risked a glance back and fell over his own feet. His uncle was right behind him; well, had been. Now he was ahead and skidding to a halt. “How?!” Wally exclaimed as he struggled back to his feet.

“The king rewards hard work.” His uncle was walking back towards him, his pace almost leisurely. “Not that you’d know about work. Maybe I should just turn you in. Would probably be the best use of you, and cost me less food in the long run. I could use the reward money. Though I find it hard to believe you’re worth as much as is being offered, let alone anything at all.”

Wally gave his uncle a small tight smile as he began to back away slowly. Wally had always been the fastest one. Always. He could outrun anything he wanted to, though he paid the price in his appetite. But his uncle had caught up to him twice now today, caught up to him and had pinned him to the ground. That shouldn’t have been possible. But as much as he wanted to, Wally couldn’t dispute that the impossible had happened.

It was going to be a lot harder to get away from his uncle that he’d originally thought.

* * *

The closer Tigress got to the tree the more she felt her skin crawl. Something wasn’t right here. For one, despite the film of water on the floor, her footsteps hardly made a sound. She might be moving slowly but she wasn’t trying to be quiet. And her heartbeat sounded loud but also muffled in her head. And what had started out as a vague, barely perceived mist was becoming a dense, cold fog, obscuring the edges of the room. The only place she could see was the tree and its little island.

Sometimes she thought she saw something move in the fog.

She needed another pair of eyes to watch where she couldn’t. But Kaldur was finding his own way through the temple, the zora warrior able to take routes she couldn’t survive due to sheer water pressure. She wished he was here to watch her back, to reassure her she truly was seeing movement. An idle wish; Tigress couldn’t allow herself that sort of trust. Easier to deal with being paranoid only about shadows in the fog, than having to worry when the person behind her would stab her in the back.

She reached the island without mishap, though the flickering at the edge of her vision grew more frequent. It was getting on her nerves. She forced herself to breath steadily and switched her sword to her other hand; she had gripped it so tightly her fingers had cramped. A creepy fog was no reason to get excited; she would just put that tree at her back until she could think of something. Maybe set it aflame if the fog grew too thick. She had just stepped onto the little island when something grabbed her shoulder. Whirling, she brought her sword around and stabbed her would-be attacker.

Kaldur stared at her, eyes wide with shock. “Tigress?” He whispered. Tigress felt her jaw move, but it was as if someone else was doing it. Her head was numb with a loud, white buzzing. His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground. The movement pulled the sword out of him, and fresh blood poured from the wound in his gut.

Distantly Tigress heard a clang of metal.“No. No. Kaldur, no.” She dropped to her knees, pressing her hands to the wound as a stranger’s half-panicked voice voice babbled in her ears. “A fairy. Need, need a fairy... ” One of his hands came up to grip her wrist.

But there weren’t any. She had used the last of her own bottled fairies hours ago. There were no jars here that might hide one. “Just don’t move, okay? It… you… no.”

The blood didn’t stop. It didn’t stop, and his already loose grip on her was weakening.

Her vision blurred. Had the fog gotten thicker? Her cheeks felt wet.

It was quiet. It was loud. Someone’s breath - her own? - sounded harsh in her ears.

Kaldur wasn’t moving.

She sat back, her legs loudly protesting at movement after so long - but it had only been moments?

Her hands fell uselessly into her lap, the blood caked and dried.

How much time had passed? Did it matter?

Splash.

The sound cut through the silence.

Splash.

Footsteps?

Splash. Quiet again.

“Tigress.” Oh. It was Nightwing. Why was he here?

“I -” Tigress began, and stopped. What could she say? Everything sounded like a defense. She could feel him staring over her, at Kaldur. The air grew colder with every breath.

“I was wrong. You aren’t any hero.” Nightwing’s voice was hard. “Hand over the sword.”

Mechanically, silently, Tigress reached for the sword sheathed on her back, fingers hitting empty air. She frowned. What had she done with it? Had she dropped it? Tearing her gaze away from Kaldur’s staring face, she saw it beside her in the water.

“Now, Tigress.”

She picked up the blade, hands steady. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest. Shouldn’t she be shaking? She felt like she was, but the sword didn’t even tremble in her grip. She frowned. Why was Nightwing here? He’d never followed her inside before.

“Let me finish it. The temple.” She whispered as she stood. Her voice sounded odd and far away to her.

“No. You’ve done enough.” He sounded impatient now. Tigress slowly turned. “The sword.”

A black gloved hand was held up before her, waiting. Tigress’s frown deepened as her gaze traveled up his arm to his face. Had his mask always been that shape? Fog curled around his form, obscuring. Hinting at something.

Nothing flickered at the edges of her sight.

“Why are you here?” She blurted out suddenly.

A arm of the fog drifted between them, obscuring most of Nightwing from her. “Just hand over the sword.”

“You never follow me into the temples.” She interrupted. Her pulse sped up; her palms felt damp. “Why now?”

“Does that matter?” Came Nightwing’s voice; the fog had completely hidden him now but for his outstretched hand.

“Yes.”

An exasperated sigh. The hand dropped out of sight, the fog thickening til Tigress felt blind. The hairs on the back on her neck prickled. “Nightwing?” She called. Her voice felt muted in the heavy air.

* * *

Luck was on his side. Barely.

While his uncle had acquired super speed, faster than Wally’s own - which was entirely unfair - he obviously wasn’t used to it yet, and Wally took full advantage of that.

He’d spent the past few years after leaving home exploring Hyrule on foot, helping Nightwing and Zatanna and the rest of the small resistance group.  He knew the secret dangers of the deceptively peaceful fields, having run into most of them headfirst at least once. And that didn’t even count the moblins that patrolled the land. Usually he avoided them; now he headed straight for these dangers, making last second dodges around bee ridden thickets and grottos. Wally had grinned the first few times his uncle had fallen for the trick, widening the gap between them, but the amusement wore off as the chase continued.

It was an unsettling thought, that his uncle would hand Wally over to the enemy if he caught him. That had been a common enough threat before Wally had left. He was fairly certain his uncle was ready to make good on it. But Wally didn’t feel nervous, even though he was still losing ground. It was probably the simplicity of purpose: a clear cut battle of speed and reaction time. No need to think beyond where he was going, and where to stop.

It would be a shame to outrun his uncle just to run into death.

* * *

Her breath came ragged and uneven. Her jaw ached. A steady drip ran down her sword into the shallow water, a dark stain spreading at her feet. Leather creaked as her grip tightened. A second nightmare lay in the water at her feet. She forced herself to turn from it, to walk away.

Two bodies, two deaths, two kills… and she still didn’t have a way to leave.

_{Very nice, I approve. Grief is for the weak.}_

Tigress’s eyes widened at the words that came from nowhere, that came from everywhere. She started to turn, looking for where that voice came from, and paused as Nightwing’s top half - separate from the rest of his body, separated by her sword, her action - came into sight. She swallowed hard and made herself look away once more. She took more care this time, not letting herself look at Kaldur’s body, at Nightwing’s body.

Nothing.

Her body trembled; was she going mad?

_{Besides, tears would waste time. There’s a job to do, after all.}_

A sound drew her gaze to the island with its dead tree. A figure slowly approached her from there, emerging from the fog. She backed up a step as she saw… herself, only not herself. It wore clothing fashioned similarly to what she had worn when she’d first left the woods and the Kokiri, before she’d ever heard of a Master Sword, though it was a much deeper green. Its long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, as long as hers might have been if she’d never cut her hair. A cruel smile played over its face as it paused at the edge of the island, hands on its hips.

“Who are you?” Tigress spat out.

The figure chuckled. _{Isn’t that obvious? I’m you.}_

“You aren't me.”

 _{But I am you. A better, truer you. I don’t lie to myself, after all.}_ It moved even closer to Tigress, coming within reach of her sword. Its grin returned, this time showing teeth. _{Tell me,_ chosen hero _. Did it feel good, killing them?}_

Tigress shouted and lunged at the not-her creature. It leapt away, disappearing in the fog. _{Don’t act like you didn’t like it! Like you don’t long to be free from playing the hero we both know you aren’t!}_ It laughed at her. Though Tigress could hear it still, the voice came from nowhere and everywhere, giving her no hint of where the creature was. Tigress whirled as a footstep sounded in the water behind her. She started to slash into the fog, only to pull her strike short as Kaldur’s shocked face rose in her memory.

 _{It’s not as if they were friends. Liars don’t have friends. Just people to use.}_ The voice sing-songed at her from the fog. Another step in the water. And another, and another. Tigress swallowed, eyes darting back and forth. _{If only they knew the deal you’ve made, what you plan.}_ Something hissed through the air. Tigress raised her sword, gasping as it clashed against metal. The fog parted to show her the creature again, holding its own sword. It licked its lips and began to circle her.

_{Must be tiring, pretending so hard to be something you’re not. Why not embrace it? You’re no hero, just a traitor, born of traitors.}_

* * *

They’d left behind the grassy plains, the ground had turned to packed dirt. There was the occasional wind-shaped boulder, and the roar of a waterfall grew louder. Wally could hear his uncle breathing heavily close behind him.

Wally forced another burst of speed from his legs as his body began to yell warnings at him. He felt as if he flew across the narrow bridge over the canyon, the waterfall’s roar deafening him to all other sounds. His gaze locked onto a sharp curve on the path ahead. If he didn’t want to be staring down a blade and explaining just why it didn’t deserve to go through his face, he would need to slow down right about… now!

He dug in his heels hard, grunting with the effort of not falling over. Realizing he’d still overshoot, he grabbed at a nearby boulder to help redirect his still too-fast momentum. He wound up turning back towards the canyon before he managed to stop.

Remembering his uncle, Wally looked around quickly for him. He found the skid marks of his uncle’s own attempt to stop. He swallowed hard as his gaze followed the marks up to his uncle’s now-still, prone form. Two warriors armed with glaives stood over him. Two more were striding quickly towards him, reminding Wally that he needed to get out of there.

“H… Hi, I’m just leaving, um, nice weather we’re having today isn’t it?” He said, holding his hands out away from his body, backing up quickly. “Uh -”

He might have made it if not for the walking backwards.

His ankle twisted as he stepped awkwardly on an unseen rock. He yelped in pain as he fell, turning to catch himself. He landed hard on his hands and knees. A cucco looked up at him, decided it was entirely unimpressed with his success at not crushing it, and leapt for his face. Wally was forced grab it to fend off its attack.

“Stop!” One of the warriors shouted. He felt someone grab the back of his shirt.

Forgetting where he was, Wally struggled against the grip, giving a cry of success as he freed himself. It was short lived as a critical realization dawned on him. He was falling again, only this time the ground was much, much, _much_ further off.

* * *

Sweat poured down Tigress’s face. Every move she made, the creature that claimed to be her copied. Every strike was parried, every step mirrored. She’d even tried firing her crossbow at it once, at near point-blank range, but the thing had somehow dodged. It knew her every move; any attempt to outmaneuver it was met with derisive laughter. Sometimes she could get past its guard - if she let her own down. Both of them bled sluggishly from several identical wounds. They were on equal footing, except that she was exhausted and it still seemed fresh despite its wounds.

She growled as it laughed at her again, wishing she could smash its face in. She rolled to avoid another attack, and gasped as the handle of the megaton hammer dug into her stomach. She grabbed at it, shoving it aside as she stood back up. Then a thought struck her; maybe if she lured the creature in? Maybe. Biting her lip, she let herself fall to her knees, not looking up as she heard the creature come near.

 _{What’s wrong, getting tired?}_ The voice asked in its teasing, annoying tone. _{It’s okay, I’ll make it all better.}_ It knelt down in front of her, smiling cruelly. _{This won’t hurt - well, not for long.}_

It started to rise, and Tigress let go of her sword and rolled into the creature. It gave a surprised cry as it fell, and Tigress landed heavily on its midriff. She swiftly pulled the hammer from her belt and raised it.

It only took one blow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: emetophobia; violent death & (somewhat vague) descriptions thereof; violence; fear of falling/heights
> 
> (“descriptions thereof” are not highly explicit but may bother those with more active imaginations. If this bothers you, and/or if you are emetophobic, but you still wish to read this chapter, skip the first four paragraphs.)

She was okay until she stepped into the next room. Then her stomach heaved, and she brought up what felt like everything she’d ever eaten and then some. The sound of the fake-her’s death echoed in her ears, and she still felt the quivering hammer blow in her hands and arms. More bile rose in her throat. There’d been resistance and bone and she saw… She retched again. It took some time before she managed to stop heaving. Wiping her sweating face with a shaking hand, Tigress slowly stood back up. She could hear the roar of fast moving water from somewhere.

Compared to that encounter, the rest of the temple was almost a breeze. It was only the memory of seeing her own face caved in by her own hands that made things difficult. The memory would attack without warning, and she’d have to find some relatively safe spot to sit out the shakes and fresh urges to vomit. There was nowhere safe to really do that in  _this_  room though, with its deep pool of water and spike-laden walls. She’d been caught off-guard and Tigress found herself held upside down in midair by a watery arm. It threw her across the room, and she counted herself lucky that she landed in the water - never mind that it was foul-smelling, fouler-tasting, and evil possessed water - rather than on the tiled walkways or spikes. She hurriedly pulled herself out onto solid ground and rolled to escape the water-arm’s fresh grab for her.

The water drained when Tigress finally killed the small creature controlling the water. For a long moment she stared suspiciously at now-empty pool, which now held only the four tall pillars that Tigress’s head had become far too familiar with. Then Tigress slowly climbed down and did a circuit of the damp, vacated area, double checking that she was the only being left in this room. Rounding a pillar, Tigress went stock-still when she saw Kaldur standing a few feet away, whole and unstabbed.

“Tigress, it is good to see you well.” He greeted at her as if she’d never killed him. Tigress’s nostrils flared. Okay. Okay, something here was a trick. Was it this, or was it before? Fresh sweat beaded on her forehead, and she wished she hadn’t already sheathed her sword.

“Kaldur.” The steadiness of her voice surprised her. “We need to talk.”

He inclined his head slightly. “There is little time. But the creature that plagued this chamber is gone due to your efforts, and thus the lake’s waters will return to normal, and the ice covering my people will melt. For that, I owe you as much time as can be spared.”

The speech was like him at least. If this were an illusion, it was a good one. Tigress's eyes narrowed. “In that case, let’s start with the important things. Think you can explain why you aren’t dead, since I stabbed you?”

He gaped at her, the most expressive she had ever seen him besides in death. “… Stabbed me?”

“Yes.”

“Well. I am neither dead nor do I have recall such a… memorable event.” He shook his head and crossed his arms. “I must ask you - Tigress, this was in a room with a dead tree?” Tigress tensed. How could he know that? Or maybe it was part of the trick? If Kaldur noticed Tigress’s sudden stiffness, he made no sign of it as he continued. “Long before this temple was ever invaded by monsters, that room was feared. It was made as a way for those Zora who would govern us to see their shortcomings, so that they might become better leaders. However, something went awry in its making. You should be careful of what you take away from that room. The truths it tells are twisted.”

She frowned at this. “But. You bled out. I saw it, felt it. I  _smelled_  it.”

Kaldur nodded grimly. “That is part of the power of the ... shadow that lives in there, for lack of better word. You said you saw me in there. That is not surprising; you had seen me recently.”

“Does that matter?”

“Only in that we do not know each other well. The better you know someone, the harder it is to falsely mimic them.” Kaldur explained. “And now you are unsure if it is truly me before you.”

Tigress made a face. “Can you blame me?”

“Hardly. However, I do not believe that shadow can recreate a sage’s power.” A soft, cool blue light spread over the room. A familiar plateau formed under their feet; the same one she’d seen when she first met the Sage of Light, and Tigress felt as if she’d let go of a breath she’d been holding for a long time.

* * *

Tigress knew she’d left Wolf at the foot of Death Mountain, but she played the horse’s song anyway as she crossed the bridges over Lake Hylia. She walked slowly, gazing at the refilled lake, as she wondered exactly what she was supposed to do now. That there’d been a temple in the forest, on the mountain, and under the lake was obvious, but it was only by luck that she had gone to those places.

The sound of hoof beats and a whinny drew her from her reverie. She looked up to see Wolf waiting for at the lake’s shoreline. Well. Looked that that was another song-spell that actually worked. It would definitely make getting around places easier. Though - a glance at Wolf showed that her saddle was still at Kakariko's inn's stable. At least she wouldn't be bored, riding bareback.

She was stroking Wolf’s nose softly, considering where she should go, when a pale, freckled hand grabbed her own. Tigress jerked back, cursing herself for getting so lost in thought that someone had snuck up on her, and freed her wrist with a quick twist. Quickly she put Wolf between her and the person who’d surprised her.

Tigress examined the young man staring at her with wide green eyes. His red hair and freckle-covered face seemed familiar. Had she seen him when she passed through Kakariko … what, just over a week ago? He smiled at her uncertainly, and her eyes widened as her memory suddenly placed how she knew him. This was Wally, that annoying, cheerful kid who had known nothing about survival outside his home. The kid that had helped her obtain the the Goron’s Ruby and the Zora’s Sapphire.

She took a breath, meaning to say something to him, when she thought better of it.

_It’s not surprising it mimicked me; you had seen me recently._

_Did it feel good, killing them?_

Her fingers clenched. No. She didn’t dare introduce herself as Artemis. That would be who he expected her to be - Artemis from the woods, Artemis who’d taken up the Master Sword. Not Tigress who’d survived to return. So instead of speaking, Tigress gave him a curt nod and mounted Wolf, never mind the lack of even a saddle blanket, and left.

* * *

“I’m not sure whether I ought to kiss you or kill you.” Wally growled at his friend, who sat in the shadows at the top of the road leading down to Hyrule field. Wally sat down with a relieved sigh next to Nightwing, glad to not have to walk further to kick Nightwing’s ass.

“I think I’d rather take the kiss, if I get a choice.” Nightwing drawled as Wally propped a foot up on a nearby rock. “You were getting pretty good at them before we stopped.”

A blush crawled up Wally’s cheeks. “Pass. I’d rather not make your girlfriend jealous. I kind of like this shape, thanks.”

“Zatanna’s  _not_  my girlfriend.”

"Yeah yeah. You're too busy for all that; I remember.” Wally rolled his eyes skyward. He knew Nightwing was, technically, right. The things their group did were generally dangerous; survival and remaining free to do more damage later had to be prioritized. Wally also knew how hard Nightwing drove himself, far beyond what he ever asked of Zatanna and Wally, on top of trying to care for a rapidly ailing Alfred. The notion of having time for any sort of romantic relationship on top of all that was ludicrous. Even so, Wally wished his two friends would at least get around to admiting that they cared about each other and stop having  _moments_  right in front of him as they too often did. “Friend who is a girl, then. You get any sleep recently?” There were hints of dark circles under Nightwing’s mask.

Nightwing smiled crookedly. “Yeah. You okay, besides that limp?” Wally made a face. He thought he had hidden it well, but then again this was Nightwing.

“Pretty okay, surprisingly, given that I’ve got a new candidate the worst week of my life since you sent me to Kaldur.”

“Yeah? I would’ve thought that it’d be the best week of your life, since Artemis’s back. Kind of why I sent you over there.” Wally bit back a harsh laugh at that.

“Yeah well, good job on actually  _telling_  me that. That was last week, and I saw her two days ago, for like five seconds, before she took off for somewhere.”

"But -” Wally snorted, cutting off Nightwing.

“Hey, I tried to make it back here when I saw the sky clear, but then moblins attacked me and I’m not going to bring them back here to civilians. Then I needed to rest so I hid out at the ranch to recover, but my uncle caught me so I had to deal with him, and  _then_ there was this river that tried to drown me. And then I  _finally_  saw her, but only as she was leaving for who-knows-where but hopefully here, only I can’t move very fast at the moment because of injuries from said river, so it kind of took longer than it normally would have to get here.”

"Ah.”

“And why didn’t you you tell me she was back?” Wally growled at his friend. His ankle hurt, and his feet and legs were throbbing in pain too, letting him know that they were quite unhappy with their recent treatment. He wanted to lie down forever - well scratch that, he wanted to eat. Then lie down. And maybe guilt Nightwing into fetching fairies to heal his foot. And then eat again.

Nightwing sighed and shrugged. “I wasn’t sure it was her at first.”

“Excuse me? You were the one that said -”

“I  _know._  But she didn’t look the same, so I wanted to be sure before I told you.”

Wally frowned. Nightwing was right in that Artemis hadn’t been the same; she hadn’t even greeted him, just rode off. Though he couldn’t blame her for that; he had forgotten how to speak when she looked at him after he had grabbed her hand. “Do you think she’s coming here? Is that why you’re out here?”

"Good guess. But she  _might_  head to the Spirit Temple first. At least she’ll have an easier time getting there than I did…”

"I never get tired of that story. You should tell Wally it.” A light voice chuckled behind them.

Wally jumped up in surprise, a decision he immediately regretted, unable to hold in a hiss of pain.

“Don’t scare Wally like that Zatanna, you know how jumpy he gets.” Nightwing scolded as he and Zatanna pulled Wally back to his seat.

“ _Anway._ “ Nightwing continued, "Artemis could find that one on her own, probably. It’s hard to get to, but not as well hidden as the temple here.”

“Wait,  _not_  as well hidden? I thought that was the only place we  _hadn’t_  found? How long have you been holding out on me?” Wally demanded.

"Well.” Nightwing cleared his throat. “We found it last year, but… it’s kind of difficult to get to. That is, Zatanna was fine getting there, but it took some… unusual measures for me.” Nightwing sounded almost uncomfortable, and Zatanna grinned at Nightwing. Even though it wasn’t directed a him, there was a gleam to her eyes that made Wally nervous and feel as if he should be prepared to run far away.

“Like what?” Wally asked after a moment’s consideration of if he really wanted to know the answer.

“Like what I had to do for myself.” Zatanna offered after Nightwing turned his head away, cheeks pink. “Only much less involved and not at all permamently.” She shoved at Nightwing’s shoulder. “And he heard a lot of lady talk he wasn’t used to, so, you know. Mental scarring and all that.”

Nightwing turned to glare at the woman. “I am  _not_  mentally scarred from that. I just didn’t like feeling like… like I was making a mockery of you.” He finished quietly, turning away once more.

“And you weren’t.” Zatanna’s voice was firm while being just as quiet.

And there it was. Another _moment_. “Well!” Wally said loudly, deliberately interrupting them. “You-” A loud  _THWUMP!_  from the village interrupted him. The three of them exchanged a look, and then Nightwing and Zatanna were up and running to investigate.

“Stay there!” Nightwing called over his shoulder.

Wally didn’t listen. By the time he reached Nightwing, who was peering into Kakariko’s well, the source of the sound was obvious - a large house had caught fire. The flames were visible over the roofs of closer buildings. A voice shouted some unintelligible words. Wally looked for the source and found Zatanna, a giant, swirling mass of water writhing under her hands. She pointed at the fire and the water rushed towards it and extinguished the worst of the flames. Shooing the water inside the building with a flick of her hands, she followed it, shouting more strange words.

“So. Guess something exploded?” Wally asked. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He knew he didn’t have much of a sense for magical events, unlike Zatanna or Nightwing or even Kaldur, but something about this was making even him uneasy.

“Guess so.” Nightwing murmured.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, hopefu… aw, _shit_.” Nightwing grabbed Wally and dragged back as a blast of cold, nasty smelling air slammed upward from the now-empty well.

"That’s not nothing.” Wally retorted, picking himself up. “What’s-” Wally swore at the sight of Nightwing being suddenly flung into the air. There was some sort of shadowy smear in the air, something Wally couldn’t see, and it was tossing his friend around like a toy.

“Tel mih og!” Zatanna was back, hands outstretched, her normally pale face even paler from fear. She repeated the words, voice booming with power. The shadow seemed to freeze, then dropped Nightwing from its hold. Wally swore and dove to try to catch his friend. All he achieved was adding a thoroughly scraped chin to his list of injuries. He heard two sets of grunts - one Nightwing’s, and one unfamiliar. Not Zatanna’s.

Pushing up onto his elbows, Wally gulped as he saw Artemis standing not two feet from him. She eased Nightwing to the ground and drew her sword, falling into a guard stance. And then the shadow had snatched her into the air too. He could hear her shout in surprise.

“Tel og! Eb enog tirips!” Zatanna came to stand guard in front of him and Nightwing. The shadow snarled without noise at them, then it seemed to flee before them, and Artemis plummeted from its hold. Her descent slowed drastically as Zatanna called out another spell that deposited the woman gently on the ground.

Everything was quiet for a long moment. Nightwing broke it, wincing as he stood up, saying “Not how I wanted to learn to fly. I don’t think it was a good teacher, anyway.”

Artemis gave Nightwing an odd look. “You don’t fly?” She asked.

“Um, no.” Nightwing said as he reached down to help Wally stand. “Not that I’d turn down the ability, mind.”

“Everyone all right?” Zatanna asked, sitting heavily on the ground. They all nodded.

Wally cleared his throat. “Um.” They all looked at him, and he flushed. “Um. Artemis. You remember me? Wally? Uh, I used to call myself ‘Kid Flash’?”

She frowned at him, and he bit his lip, suddenly uncertain. She wasn’t the same as he remembered - the nearly faded scar near her ear was new to him, as was the bump of her nose that spoke of a past break. She wore orange and black now, instead of the greens from when they’d first met. Still, the look in her eyes, the stance she’d taken just now, those were all things that screamed Artemis in his memory. But something was off. She had yet to say something, anything, to him. Nor did she react to his name. She hadn’t reacted back at the lake either, come to think of it, aside from jerking away in surprise.

Then she spoke, and Wally was sure he’d never not feel sick again.

“Artemis?” She said the word slowly. “That’s… not my name.”

The world swayed, and not only because Nightwing had forcibly pushed him to sit on a crate. He felt strangely lightheaded, and his head and face felt numb. This wasn’t right.

“Sure, and my real name’s Nightwing. It’s okay, we’re all on the same side here.” Nightwing said. Wally could barely hear him for all that Nightwing stood right next to him.

Her mouth twisted like she’d eaten something sour. “Not what I meant, Nightwing. I mean my name  _isn’t_  Artemis. I’m a different person.”

“That’s impossible. Artemis pulled out the Master Sword, the very same sword that you have. There’s no way-”

“It. Is. Possible.” She cut him off flatly. “She…. shit.” She crossed her arms and turned around to face the empty well.

“Look, a lot happened since she pulled out the sword, okay? She - there was - she couldn’t make it. So she handed it over to me so I could finish what she started. I’ll put it back soon as everything’s done.” Wally realized he was tightly gripping one of Nightwing’s hands. He looked down, staring at it. He decided not to let go; after all, it seemed he was going to need to break it in a minute.

There were distant noises that were probably words. He felt Nightwing shift, and when had he gone from trying to break his friend’s hand to grasping it as a lifeline? More sounds, then silence. “You said she’d be fine.” Was that his voice? It sounded strange. “That she would be back, that she was _safe_.”

Nightwing sat heavily beside him and pulled him close.

* * *

“Not used to having company through this.” Tigress commented as they carefully navigated a sloping ramp further into the temple. She tried not to dwell on what had happened in the Water Temple. Hopefully this one's tricks would be more benign. Like guillotines or something of the sort.

“Yes, well, it’s kind of my fault that spirit escaped from the well. So only makes sense that I should help put it back.” Zatanna replied. “Wait. Take two steps left; there’s a drop right in front of you.”

“I wasn’t complaining. That ability of yours is definitely useful.” Tigress said as she followed Zatanna’s instructions.

“Not quite an ability.” Zatanna held up a small rod with a purple lens set on one end. “This helps me see - and hear - lies.” The dark-haired woman smiled to herself grimly when Tigress seemed to stiffen just a bit at those words.

Zatanna hadn’t liked what Tigress had said earlier at the well. There was more to the story than Tigress had told them, Zatanna was sure of it. Something off there, even if she had no idea just what it was yet. She decided to wait on that though, as the path ended right their feet, leaving them to figure out how to cross a giant, floorless room.

Once they’d crossed, there was little chance for talking, as it seemed every monster in the temple had decided to attack at once. They had to save their breath for fighting and spellcasting. Or, in one nasty situation of a twenty-foot tall stalfos, running away. They crashed through a door into an empty square space. “Zatanna, anything in front of us?” Tigress asked breathlessly as she slammed the door shut and whirled to face it, as if daring anything to come through.

“Only a… a boat?”

“That's fine, so long as it’s not attacking.”

They stood back to back for a few breathless moments. Then Zatanna heard Tigress sigh and move away. “I don’t think anything’s following us anymore. This might be as good place to rest as any place we’ll find ahead.”

“You say that as if you know the place.”

“… Been through three of these temples. You start to develop a sense of when things are going to get bad.”

“Is that so? Would’ve appreciated a warning back there.” Zatanna made a face as she looked the area over for danger once more before sitting down. Tigress seemed to have already decided this area was safe enough and had sheathed her sword.

“Usually it’s not like that.” She felt Tigress watch her. “It’s more like… this place.” Tigress gestured at the area around them. “Quiet-like. No monsters. Means there’s either trouble in here and we're about to ambushed, or there's trouble ahead. And you said you didn't see anything hiding out here, so unless you’re mistaken, the danger should be ahead.”

“I’m not lying,” Zatanna said quietly.

“Didn’t say you were.”

“But you are.” Zatanna knew she should have waited til they had rested, but the words popped out anyway.

Tigress stared at her companion, mouth opening and closing like a fish before she found her voice. “ _What_  did you say?”

Zatanna wished she could go back and approach this differently. But the damage was done, so she might as well forge onward into the mess she’d opened up. “You’re lying. Or rather, did lie. To me and Nightwing and Wally, back at the well. When you talked about Artemis.” She noted the way Tigress’s hands balled into fists, and took quick stock of her own store of magic. She had enough left to make it a challenge, but not enough she could be certain of a win, if it came down to a fight. She needed to step carefully here.

“I told you earlier - I can hear and see lies, illusions, that sort of stuff, using the lens of truth.” Tigress nodded, staring at her. “I was using it earlier, to see what the spirit that tossed you and Nightwing around was doing. I was still using it while you were talking. You… you said your name wasn’t Artemis, that she’d handed you the sword, and that you were here to finish what she couldn’t. Sound right?”

“Yes.” Tigress said flatly. “All of that was true.”

“Depends, doesn’t it, on your point of view?” Zatanna smiled grimly as Tigress’s eyes narrowed. “Names are weird, and change. Tigress is what you go by now, that’s true enough. But it isn’t what you were always called, is it?”

“Does that matter?”

Zatanna nodded and leaned forward. “Because Wally, for all that he can be really annoying, is a very good friend of mine. And he’s half-convinced he killed this Artemis girl - who I never met, by the way - by accident. And if you made his guilt worse by  _pretending_  that she’s dead, well. Don’t count on that not coming back to haunt you.”

“Pretending, is it?”

“Yeah. I think I can take a good guess at what happened to her though.”

Tigress raised her eyebrows. “That so? Then tell.” She crossed her arms, settling against the wall.

Zatanna exhaled slowly. “She’s only ‘dead’ because she doesn’t go by Artemis anymore. In fact, she’s standing right here, in front of me.” Zatanna knew she was correct from the way Tigress’s expression went blank and her posture rigid. “And I know she’s a downright  _coward_.” Zatanna continued, glaring at Tigress. Anger surged in her, and not just for Wally’s sake. The wielder of the Master Sword was a  _liar_. How could someone like that be Hyrule’s hero of legend? “You ran away from all this, didn’t you, when you took up that sword. Sure, maybe you were misled as to what it all entailed, but Nightwing did that to  _all_  of us. We stayed, but  _you_  left. We had to fight for Hyrule on our own for seven years. And now that you’re back, it’s so much _easier_  for you to just use a new name so you don’t have to deal with what you did - or rather,  _didn’t_  do.” Zatanna didn't flinch as Tigress stopped leaning back and strode forward until their faces were mere inches apart.

“Are you still using that lens? So you can hear lies?”

Zatanna blinked, nonplussed, then nodded. That hadn’t been what she expect Tigress to say at all.

“Then I will correct you on two counts.” The blond woman stated in a cold, measured voice. “One is that I never ‘ran away’, as you so put it. The second is that you probably think it’s a good idea to tell Wally about all of that. You shouldn't. It’d just break him.”

“… What?”

“Have you ever thought about what I’ll have to do after these temples are cleansed? After the temples, there’s still the person who took over Hyrule, the one who tried to take the power of the Triforce, to face down.” Tigress said. Zatanna found herself unable to look away from Tigress’s gray, ice-cold eyes. “You still want to tell Wally I’m alive, and then have to amend that in a few weeks time?” Nothing disturbed the cold, dry air of the temple for a long, tense moment as they stared at each other. Then Zatanna closed her eyes and shook her head. “Good. As for the rest. I don’t give a shit. Just don’t do that to him.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: vague nonspecific references to abuse

Zatanna felt the temple spread out before her. Or rather, she felt it spread out within her. She _was_ the temple and it was her, for a thrilling, terrifying, endless moment. Its passages became her veins, and its dank air was her breath, and her mind splintered into the hundreds, the thousands of minds inside it, from the keese to stalfos to the bloody masses of hands and teeth that knew nothing but hunger.

The feeling of being both many and herself faded, thankfully, leaving her completely alone in her mind. She knew she was still in the Shadow Temple, but only by the most technical of definitions - this room, the light that emanated from nowhere and everywhere, was the temple’s link to the Sacred Realm.  _How_  she could possibly know that was a different question, but she was certain she was correct.

Yellow light bloomed near her, and faded to reveal a blond woman, a bit taller than Zatanna. “Welcome, Sage of Shadows.” The woman greeted her. The title called to Zatanna, giving her feel a rush of power that she normally felt when she had mastered a new spell. “I am -”

“Dinah, the Sage of Light.” Zatanna finished. Then frowned; where had that come from?

“You have begun to awaken, I see. I’m sure you have questions.”

“Plenty, though… I’m not sure what I already know just now.” That brought forth a laugh.

“Yes, it is a bit confusing at first. But perhaps you should go ahead and ask.”

Zatanna frowned, worring her lip between her teeth, hesitating.  _“I didn’t run away.”_ Tigress’s - no, Artemis’s - words echoed in her ears. The hero hadn’t been lying about that, unlike when she’d said she was a different person from Artemis. The air around Tig -  _Artemis_  - had rippled in Zatanna’s sight, a sort of blunted jaggedness to the words that had hinted at some sort of truth being said, all tangled up in a lie.

“I want to know about the hero.” Zatanna said finally. “What she was up to while she was gone.”

Dinah pursed her lips, as if she disapproved. “As Sages, we are not only connected to our temples, but also to the Master Sword, and thus to the chosen hero. Through that bond, what you want to know is… available to you. I would advise against seeking it unless you have Tigress’s permission.”

“She lied to me and to my friends.” She retorted. Dinah raised an eyebrow and Zatanna flushed, feeling petty, but press onward. “You know, don’t you? What she was doing all this time.”

“Yes.” The other woman’s voice turned quiet and flat in warning. “When she drew the sword, evil forces invaded the Sacred Realms in overwhelming force. It took me years to recover enough power to do more than just follow her actions through the sword. I -”

“So tell me then! Since you think I shouldn’t look for myself.” The blond woman frowned at her, blue eyes flashing.

“It is not my place to.” Zatanna huffed in frustration, crossing her arms defiantly, and turned away. Well, if Dinah wouldn’t tell her, she’d find out using this link of hers with the sword. She closed her eyes, concentrating. The feeling returned from before, where all that lived in the temple had been part of her, only slowly this time. Tiny pinpricks of life appeared behind her eyes. She bore down on them, searching for the one she wanted. She found it, a light that didn’t belong within her temple. Metal sang behind her eyes - the Master Sword. She reached for it.

She came back to herself with a start, staggering backwards. Dinah caught her, holding her until Zatanna was steadier. Zatanna had to try a few times to swallow; her mouth had gone dry. To her chagrin, she had not found out everything she wanted. Zatanna had known Artemis had spoken what she believed to be true, about not actually running away. But she had still wanted to find that the woman was just being clever about how she was choosing to interpret events. Now Zatanna knew otherwise. She hadn’t stopped to think that she would have preferred not knowing.

“I should have warned you - that it would be rather unpleasant.” Dinah said softly after giving Zatanna some time to recover.

She shook her head. “No. I. I would have done that anyway.” She paused, searching for the words she wanted. “That, that explained some things, but… it wasn’t what I thought I wanted. Though, even knowing all that now… doesn’t  _excuse_  that Artemis lied to me and my friends. I’ll still support her, since she’s the hero and I’m a Sage and all - Hyrule’s more important than holding a grudge - but I haven’t forgiven her for that.”

“Our support is not a seal of approval for everything the hero has done or may do. We are Sages, not goddesses.”

Zatanna sniffed in disagreement with that last statement. When Dinah stopped chuckling, she asked “Can I talk to her? Alone?”

“Of course.”

* * *

The dark, musty room faded from Tigress’s vision with the spirit’s defeat, replaced with the only room she had ever seen in the temple of light. Zatanna was already there, mouth in a tight line. “I apologize for accusing you of running away.” She said abruptly. “I didn’t understand just what had happened to you, when I said that.”

Tigress’s breath caught in her throat, trying to strangle her as sudden rage sped through her veins. That wasn’t any of Zatanna’s business - Zatanna hadn’t been there and Tigress hadn’t offered to share any part of her past with her. Or maybe she was bluffing? Tigress crossed her arms, trying to get her anger under control. “So you just decided to root around in my past the second you became a Sage?” She growled. Even M'gann had respected her desire for privacy, even if she hadn’t kept her sadness at the secrecy to herself.

“The opportunity was available. I took it.” Zatanna shrugged, meeting Tigress’s glare. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. No one deserves to be treated like that. But that doesn’t change my opinion of you, or you deceiving Wally like this.”

“Should hope not. I don’t want pity.” Tigress snapped. Sweat beaded on her brow and her stomach roiled. Zatanna wasn’t bluffing after all.

“No, no pity.” Zatanna sighed. “Anyway - here; I don’t need this anymore, and you may find it useful.” She held the Lens of Truth out to Tigress. “Now. Nightwing is waiting for you. He knows where the final temple is.” Tigress stared at the offered item then snatched it from Zatanna’s hand, too angry to care that she was being rude.

With that action, the world around Tigress turned into a deep purple light and then reappeared in the form of Kakariko’s graveyard. She was at the back part, where the ground rose abruptly and overlooked the rest of the graves, in front of the stairs leading down into the shadow temple. Nightwing stood nearby; he turned to her as the last of the light faded into nothing.

“Tigress. I… about what you said earlier.” Tigress stared at him, still preoccupied with her anger at Zatanna. She shook her head, partly to try to clear it and partly to try to get Nightwing to stop. She didn’t want to talk about that.

“Zatanna said you knew of the next temple.”

“… It’s in the desert. The Gerudo call it the Desert Colossus. But - hey, listen!” He grabbed her arm; she had started walking as soon as he’d said  _Gerudo_. “I want to ask you something.” She stopped but pointedly stared down at his hand til he let go.

“How do - how  _did_  - you know Artemis? Meet her?”

“What?” Startled, she met his eyes - well, she thought she did. It was hard to tell when the mask he wore hid them.

“Every legend, every prophecy Hyrule has,  _everything_  - says that Artemis should have been safe in the Sacred Realms. Safe and sealed away. When we met in the Temple of Time, I thought you were her. But you say that you’re not. So either the legends are wrong or Artemis left the Sacred Realm earlier, without my noticing. But either way, since you have Master Sword, she had to have handed it to you. It’s the only way it’d accept a new wielder, short of Artemis dying before you got it. But you said she gave it to you, so. How did you meet her?”

Tigress stared at him, mouth hanging ajar. She briefly wondered if Nightwing, too, could detect lies like Zatanna. She dismissed that almost immediately; if he could, he’d have already called her on it. “Does it matter?”

“Wally believes he’s the reason she’s dead.” Nightwing said. “That being present when she took the Master Sword would have changed events.”

“Ah.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking a brief moment to compose herself and think of this newest tale to spin. “Well, Artemis didn’t talk with me for long, but… she did mention Wally,” she said, choosing her words with care. “She seemed… fond of him. I don’t think that she blamed him for anything.” She cleared her throat. “As for why me of all people - that was more luck than anything. There was a battle. And, well.” She made a vague gesture. “I know I’m not who any of you expected. Like I said, when things are over, I’ll put the sword back.” That seemed to be enough for Nightwing. He nodded unhappily and extended a hand.

“I likely won’t be able to meet you at the Colossus. I have some things I must attend to. But I will see you after though, at the Temple of Time.”

* * *

She hadn’t expected to find Wolf ready for her, already harnessed and saddled. Nor had she expected for Wally to be waiting with the horse. She hesitated, unsure if she had the energy to deal with him on top of Zatanna and Nightwing. But she didn’t relish the idea of calling Wolf to her later and having to ride bareback again.

“You know,” he said when she finally approached them, “Wolf usually doesn’t get along with people I haven’t introduced her to. But she seems to actually  _like_  you.” He glanced at her sidelong, almost accusatory, as he stroked the horse’s nose gently.

“She’s your horse then? Sorry for, ah, so abruptly borrowing her.” Tigress said, ignoring the question in Wally’s statement. She leaned against the wood of the stall next to Wolf’s. Wally’s narrowed a little, then he shrugged.

“Well, you’re welcome to keep borrowing her. Since she likes you. I would’ve taken her from the ranch myself a while ago, but I can hardly keep myself fed most of the time, let alone a horse. Startled me quite a bit when I discovered she was gone. Thought my uncle had sold her and was just using that as an excuse to be angry with me.” Wolf butted her head against Wally’s chest, making the redhead chuckle. “Okay okay girl. I’ll share.” He pulled out an apple from his pockets and held it out for Wolf to eat.

“Your uncle? That guy, what was his name - Daniel?”

“Yeah. He and I don’t exactly get along. Couldn’t seem to do anything that wouldn’t upset him somehow. But he’s family, so.” Wally shrugged, saying so much in just that gesture, his eyes staring off at something only he could see.

Tigress grimaced. She’d met Daniel only briefly, when she’d “borrowed” Wolf, and hadn’t liked what she’d seen of him. It wasn’t hard for her to guess why Wally had left things at ‘so’. Her fingers tightened on the wood, making it creak.

“What about your parents?” She asked, when she had control of her temper again.

“Hm? Oh, they left, years ago.” Wally came back to the present with a start. “Sorry, you probably need to be going, don’t you?” He moved to the side, reaching up to guide Wolf out of the stall. “About earlier,” he added when they’d gotten Wolf outside. “I wanted to apologize. For confusing you with Artemis. You just look a lot like her, that’s all. It’s kind of weird.”

Tigress wasn’t sure what to say to that. She hadn’t planned on lying to Wally, though she knew now that she had, that didn’t matter. She’d been gone for so long, had changed her clothes and hair and her behaviors, even used a crossbow instead of a bow now, that she hadn’t actually expected anyone to even recognize her besides M'gann. And while Roy and Conner had also realized who she was, they weren’t friendly and liable to spill their life story to someone they’d just met. But Wally, she’d already known that Wally was a talker, and he’d just confirmed that he hadn’t changed. At least, not in that respect. But then Wally had called her Artemis, and she’d simply reacted without thinking, reaching for the first lie that came to mind. And now Wally thought she was dead.

Not, she told herself, that it was precisely untrue, seeing as she’d fought, and killed, an evil version of herself only days before. Had smashed her own head in with her own hands. And like she’d told Zatanna earlier, to tell Wally the truth now would only hurt him worse later, given the incredibly likely chance that she died in the temples or the battle that was sure to come after them. She told herself it was better like this, not for the first time. She still didn’t believe it.

“She was your friend,” Tigress said at last. “And you thought she’d be back. Nothing to apologize for.”

“Dunno if I’m really supposed to call someone I had known for only a couple of weeks a friend. Probably weird that I’m this upset over her not…” He swallowed against the tremble in his voice and rubbed at his face. She reached over and squeeze his shoulder gently.

“Sometimes that’s all the time you need,” She said, biting her tongue against adding  _‘and fighting giant killer monsters together helps speed things up too.’_  She didn’t need the trouble that would bring. She chewed on her lip, unable to think of anything else to say that wouldn’t make things worse.

But he just nodded shortly, not looking at her, and walked off, a hand raised in a farewell gesture. She inhaled deeply, mounted Wolf, and rode off.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: mentions of (off screen) character death

Years and years ago, back when she was just Artemis, back when she hadn’t known she wasn’t truly one of the Kokiri, Green Arrow had taught archery to her, to Roy, and to those Kokiri interested in learning. Over time, he also taught them about their forest, about how to survive both magical and physical threats. Taught them how to build shelters, taught them which plants were edible and which would cause sickness or kill. How to making weapons, how to keep blades sharpened. Trapping. Hunting.

She had thought she’d been very knowledgeable about survival. Then she’d had to leave the forest, and she realized very quickly she knew very little about fields, about mountains, about lakes. She’d heard of them, of course. Had even seen a mountain before - from the top of the Great Deku Tree, it was possible to see Death Mountain, far away in the distance beyond the forest. She hadn’t known then that it was so  _big_. She had been at a loss at first; how could anything she’d learned in the forest apply here? There were no trees to climb and hide in, no wolfos to be stalked by and to stalk in return. There was no Roy to trade snarky remarks with, about missed targets and new bruises. No M'gann to make her feel grand when she did something scary and difficult. Just some redhead boy who managed to be even more annoying than Roy.

But there were tektites, and dodongos, and other creatures. And while she hadn’t encountered any of those creatures before, didn’t know their habits, didn’t know if their bite was poisonous or just painful, she did know how to use a bow. So she’d managed, and survived. She’d even kept other people alive as she learned. It was the least she could do. She had thought that, just maybe, Green Arrow would’ve been proud of her, if he’d been alive able to see how well she’d done.

And then she’d picked up the Master Sword, and she’d learned how very, very little she actually knew.

The following years had seen a dramatic expansion of both her fighting and survival skills. She’d learned that Death Mountain was, in truth, a rather small mountain. That there were taller ones on which it snowed. That some were so tall that trees didn’t grow at the top. Even some so tall that you couldn't make it to the top - those who had tried had died, unable to breath the thin air. She knew about bogs now. About lands so flat that the smallest of hills seemed like a fever dream. She knew what the sea smelled like. And, most importantly right now, she knew about deserts. About heatstroke, and sandstorms. But she didn’t think, not anymore, that Green Arrow might have been proud of her. She knew, if he were alive to see her today, he wouldn't approve.

But in all of her travels, she hadn’t learned much of the Gerudo, beyond that their warriors were women and that they didn’t like outsiders. So she was a bit surprised that she was allowed into their fortress with little challenge. She was even more surprised that the two women, presumably guards going by their tall glaives, had made no move to take any of her weapons, as if she couldn’t possibly pose a threat. They led her into one building and through a maze of hallways, passing several other Gerudo. They all seemed to dress similarly, with wide leggings and matching fitted tops. Some wore veils over the lower half of their face; others did not. Tigress cast a slightly jealous eye over them all; none of them seemed to be sweating, unlike her.

But there was no time for admiration, as she was escorted to a lavishly decorated room where a woman sat at a table, covered with trays of food. “Greetings, Hero.” The woman greeted her. “I am Raquel, leader of the Gerudo.”

“And I am Tigress.”

“We know. Please, be seated.” Tigress hesitated for a split second, then did as asked.

“You are... more welcoming than I expected, all things considered.” Tigress commented, taking the only other chair, across from Raquel. The two women who had led her to this room took up posts against the wall on either side of the room, with the stoic detached air of those who are used to being asked to not hear anything.

“Because we’re Gerudo and must, therefore, support that false king?” Tigress’s eyes widened at the tartness of Raquel’s tone. A side of the woman’s mouth lifted in a half-snarl. “You think we’ve  _profited_  from his ridiculous ambitions? He calls himself a Gerudo, but then he does nothing to lessen the growing hostility of the Hylians to my people!

“We used to have an  _alliance_  of sorts with Hyrule. Now Savage thinks that since we allowed him to live among our people for a time that he treat us as a dumping ground for those who oppose him. People think that because they support Savage, we’ll ignore our customs and cater to them.  _Or_  think that they can just put on a dress and sneak in. There’s more to it than that!” Raquel slammed a hand down on the table, making the plates on it jump. “And don’t get me started on the looters!”

She glared at Tigress, who kept her own face carefully neutral. “So you  _don’t_  support him?” Tigress ventured.

“No!” Raquel shouted, then visibly pulled temper back in check. She sighed and sat back, waving a hand in a dismisive gesture. “Oh, there are individuals who think that Vandal Savage is great, because they’re short-sighted. And angry at how Hylians treat us. Not that I fault them on that second point, but it’s bad reasoning over all. Our relationship with Hyrule has  _always_  been some degree of antagonistic - it’s just worse now than it’s been in hundreds of years. But for most of us? Savage can go -” Raquel went on to describe, in no uncertain terms, how she felt about Savage. Tigress found herself in awe, and did her best to commit to memory some of the more creative phrases.

When Raquel was done, Tigress leaned forward. “Then you should know I’m working against him.” She said quietly. “I’m to awaken the six sages by destroying the evil creatures that have taken over the temples. There’s only one left, at the Desert Colossus. If you could grant me passage…”

Raquel frowned. “It’s not that simple. Yes, I’m the leader and what I say goes, but that doesn’t mean that I can simply do anything I want. You’re no Gerudo. You’ll have to prove your skill in combat first, to even be allowed to wander around here freely, let alone given passage to the desert.” She explained, nodding at the sword Tigress carried. “Unless you want to forfeit the fight and go straight to a prison cell. Your choice.”

“I  _was_  wondering no fuss was being made about my weapons.” Raquel gave her a thin smile.

* * *

Tigress blocked one of her opponents swords with her shield, and parried the other with her own blade. Her opponent rocked back, her blades a blur as Tigress’s return thrust was blocked in turn. They drew apart and circled each other. Then her opponent stepped back, her curved blades coming up to guard her, catching in the sunlight as she crouched down. Tigress could see sweat trickling down the woman’s face, just as she felt it on her own. She stepped back too, wary. The woman’s crouch was deep, too deep for a ground attack, so - Metal flashed once more, and Tigress rolled to one side as the woman sprang into the air with a battle cry. She came upright and spun as the woman landed, and struck her back with the flat of her blade.

The woman grunted at the force of the blow, whirling to face Tigress, then freezing as that put the tip of Tigress’s blade at her throat. They started at each other for a moment, breathing hard, sweat sticking their clothes to their bodies. The woman grinned at her, and Tigress drew her sword away. Her opponent stowed her blades and came over to clap Tigress on the back. “Well done. Do you lot agree?” She raised her voice, speaking to those who’d come to watch the fight. Several murmurs of approval came forth, though there were those who simply left.

“Well then! You are officially an honorary Gerudo.” She picked at the cloth of her shirt, twitching the cloth to send a breeze over her heated skin. “Come on, we can both do with a bath. Then you need to rest. Only fools and the desperate cross the desert in the day’s heat.”

That evening, as Tigress readied herself for her journey, Raquel came to the small room Tigress had been given for the day. “Like I said before, you are no Gerudo, born and raised to the desert,” Raquel said at Tigress’s inquiring look. “Custom dictates that someone go with you, so that you don’t do something disastrous like, oh, drink all your water in the first hour out there.”

“Ah.” Tigress slung her pack over her shoulder. “So… am I supposed to wait on this person? Or are they waiting on me?”

“Well, until now we were waiting on the sun to set. But now that it’s not suicidal to make the crossing, I’m just waiting on you.” At Tigress’s sharp look, Raquel explained, “The Colossus, where our Goddess of the Sand, it is sacred. So it’s only fitting that I go with you.”

* * *

“Is it always like this?” Raquel asked as she manifested a bubble of energy around herself. Several unseen things thumped against it, skittering against where the bubble met the floor. Tigress, on the other side, watched where tiny ripples traveled up the shielding energy. She shot one of the invisible things with her crossbow and stabbed another with her sword. Raquel dropped the shield and in one swift movement, drew a knife and impaled the last.

“Mostly.” The things lost their invisibility as they died, showing themselves to be small autonomous hands. They twitched as they died. “Though, usually, not so much  _sand_.”

“Think I prefer sand to tiny killer hands.  _Invisible_  tiny killer hands. Is there more?”

“Probably. Probably bigger ones too.” Raquel made a face.

“Like how big?”

“Bigger than me.”

“ _Ew._ ”

* * *

Tigress’s fingers trembled slightly as she filled her empty bottles with fairies at the oasis outside the Colossus, where the Spirit Temple was hidden. She was so close to being  _done_  now, with the temple cleansed and the last Sage, Raquel, awakened - though it hadn’t happened in that order. She was so close, so close to being done with all of this. So close to putting the Master Sword away for good.

She clenched her fingers, and when she opened them again, they no longer trembled. Yes, being done would be good, but she wasn’t there yet. Thinking that way was a distraction. And she needed to be focused, couldn’t afford to be otherwise. She’d learned that lesson long ago, before she had stopped calling herself Artemis. And that was even more important now. Time had been against her before but not to this extent. Before, she could afford small rests. Now every delay worked against her.

Dawn broke over the desert sands, the brightness of the sun coming over the horizon blotting out the last traces of quickly fading orange sparkles.

Elsewhere, in the Temple of Time, orange sparkles appeared and faded, coalescing into Tigress. She glanced about quickly, not wanting Nightwing to surprise her yet again - how he always seemed to know her location was getting on her nerves. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw Wally, not Nightwing, leaning against a wall. Their eyes locked briefly before he turned his head away.

“He’s not coming,” the redhead said hoarsely. “Nightwing’s been captured.”

Tigress’s hands curled into fists. She couldn’t afford delays right now. “I’ll rescue him if I can Wally, but I have other priorities right now -”

“You don’t understand,” Wally cut in. “Nightwing… he’s the prince. Richard. And Savage has him now.”

Tigress blinked in surprise. She remembered the prince, a short boy who’d sent her after the spiritual stones. That was Nightwing? “You’re sure? Nightwing’s Dick?”

Wally looked at her sharply. “How’d you know his nickname? Nevermind. Artemis probably told you.” He closed his bloodshot eyes and breathedd deeply. “Yeah, that’s him. But it gets worse. Nightwing’s got a piece of the triforce too. That’s how Nightwing and the rest of us could resist Savage this long. But now… We really,  _really_  need to rescue Nightwing.”

Tigress nodded slowly. “Yeah. okay. That changes things. A lot.” She ran a hand through her short hair, thinking. She ought to be on her way to Savage already, but this changed all her plans. She hadn’t considered having to rescue anyone while she did her best to not die. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Wally crossed his arms. “Some of Savage’s minions got the jump on us. I got free, and I thought Nightwing had too, but they must’ve hit him harder than I realized.” He swallowed hard. White showed on his knuckles as his fingers tightened on his arms. “And I was too slow. Again. I wasn’t fast enough to see he needed help, was too focused on myself -” his voice cracked and he turned and slammed a fist into the stone wall.

She didn’t realize she’d moved until she felt her fingers wrapping around his elbows, keeping him from punching the wall again. “That’ll just destroy your hands. It won’t help with anything.” She said softly.

He gulped in air, shaking. “It’s more help than I am. I’m never fast enough. Never. I just let people down and then they get captured or disappear or leave.” He jerked against her hold a few times, to no avail. He hadn’t spent years building up his muscles; she had. Eventually he stopped struggling and sagged away from her, resting his head against the wall. She released him slowly, reading to stop him if it looked like he might start trying to break the wall with his head.

“At least, with my parents, it made sense. Can’t outrun disease, you know? They were only going to be gone a little while, so Dad could see a healer in town. But no one knew then, about the redead.” He scrubbed at his face with shaking hands. “Sometimes I wish I’d gone with them. Maybe I could’ve gotten them out. Or if I didn’t, if I became like the rest too… Nightwing would’ve never depended on me. I’d’ve never been able to let him down. And I’d have never known that I failed Artemis, either.”

“You didn’t fail Artemis.” The words were out before she could stop them. She clenched her jaw to keep the rest from tumbling out.

“And how would you know?” Wally turned to glare at her. “You can’t know that. I should have _been there_ with her. Should never have run after the prince. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference, but at least I could’ve tried to help her. I could’ve scouted ahead, or distracted her enemies, or, or something!”

The idea of Wally having been with her, of coming with her on her... journeys ... horrifed Tigress. It was too easy to imagine what would have happened to him. What  _had_  happened to the few people who had wanted to befriend her and had refused to take the hint to stay away. “No. It’s _really_  better you weren’t there.” She forced herself back to the here and now, not dizzying, terrifying might-have-beens. “Nightwing told you? That -” she forced herself to finish the sentence. She hated this. It wasn’t better. “That she died in battle?” He nodded, jaw clenched. “It was very bad, Wally. You’d have been killed. Because you’d have insisted on staying, on trying to help.”

“But -”

“ _But_ ,” and she held his eyes with her own, “you weren’t. And because of that, you can help me finish what she started.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: blood

Awakening as a sage had been an interesting experience. It wasn’t like Raquel was new to being in charge of a bunch of headstrong spirits all wanting to go different directions - she had lead the Gerudo for years. She just wasn’t used to having a direct link to those souls in her head. She didn’t mind it too much though. Most of these creatures wanted to do as she asked, eager for a purpose. And for those that resisted, they were easier to command into obeying her than it was to talk an obstinate Gerudo around into doing what Raquel wanted.

As she strapped on the last piece of her armor, a silent clamor rose between her ears. Something - several  _foreign_  somethings - had entered the temple. Its residents weren’t happy about it. She placed a heavy, double-headed axe in easy reach, then sat on the overlarge chair situated in the center of the room. She closed her eyes, watching the intruders through the senses of an armos, then a beamos. Then followed them through a series of keese. She smiled grimly to herself. Things were about to get very messy.

Elsewhere, other sages also readied themselves.

On the slopes Death Mountain, Conner stood in plain sight, arms crossed. Behind and above him were his goron brethen, waiting, ready to defend their lands.

Below, in the Shadow Temple, dead hands to move closer to the entrance, stopped only by the searing flames of the torches beyond and Zatanna’s firm mental touch. Anyone ‘visiting’ her temple would be sorry.

The Water Temple was quiet, eerily empty. The only sound was the gentle lap of water against the walls. The depths, however, held a different story.

M'gann hoarded her mental strength. She would need every bit of it soon. Throughout the forest, Kokiri reshaped paths and left nasty surprises for the unwary. Even if someone should get through the new, deadlier Lost Woods, Roy and Roy were busy working up traps throughout the temple. When they were done, they fell back to hold watch with M'gann.

Dinah was the only one without an army. So long as none of the other temples fell, she wouldn’t need one.

* * *

The plan Tigress had come up with was very simple. Get into the castle, find Nightwing, have Wally get him somewhere safe. Tigress would stay and fight Savage. The first part was easy. The sages had given just a touch of their powers to create a bridge over the lava moat. Then they were gone, having problems of their own to attend to. She was on her own. Well, except for Wally.

Now inside, they found a barrier blocking the inner keep. It only delayed them briefly. Taking out the barrier’s power sources was easy compared to some of the trials she’d undergone in the temples. It felt like it took no time at all before the barrier was depowered. Wally was quiet as they worked, for which she was glad. It let her focus on working out a plan for Savage. Not that she had gotten very far - her thoughts kept going in circles.

“Still no sign of Nightwing,” Wally muttered as they reached the top of the thickly carpeted stairs.

“Savage’s probably keeping him nearby,” Tigress replied, one hand resting on the door in front of them. “If that’s true, wait for Savage to be distracted first. Don’t just run around and make my job harder.” She waited for him to nod understanding, then pushed the door open.

It swung open noiselessly. Her heart hammered in her chest as she slowly stepped into the nearly empty room, Wally close behind her. She could see  _him_ , standing with his back to her, on the far side of the room. Near him stood Nightwing, enclosed in a crystal of deep blue-ish light. A smear of what was probably blood ran from his hair to his chin. It was hard to tell through the crystal if it was fresh or dried. She heard Wally inhale sharply as he caught sight of his friend. She raised a hand and caught his arm when he would’ve moved past her. “Stay near me,” she reminded him, voice barely a whisper, “Wait for your chance.” She knew he was glaring at her. She ignored it. How was Wally supposed to get Nightwing out when the guy was encased in crystal?

“So, you’re finally here. I see you brought a friend too,” came a deep voice, too familiar for how infrequently she’d heard it in the past. Vandal Savage turned to face them, his eyes flicking over them dismissively. “Good job on finding all the sages for me. It will be interesting to see which survive the night.”

“Ugh. Acting as if that was a favor for him. Doesn’t he know he hasn’t won yet?” Wally grumbled behind her. Tigress glanced back at him as Savage threw his head back and laughed.

“Oh, but I  _have_  won, child. All the pieces of the Triforce are gathered here. And one prince in captivity.” Savage swept a hand to the side, as if shooing away a pesky bug. The crystal holding Nightwing slid away to smack against the far wall; Nightwing jerked inside it, falling to his knees. Tigress tightened her grip on Wally’s arm just in time to keep him from going to his friend. “And six soon to be dead sages.  _Very_  good job hero. I should never had doubted you.” His mouth curled into a cruel smirk. Tigress stared back coldly, not giving a hint of her feelings. Inwardly though, her entire head felt numb.

“What the hell is he talking about?” Wally whispered. Tigress shrugged.

“You haven’t told him? Even better, little hero!” Savage slowly clapped his hands in approval, the sound echoing through the bare room. “But it’s cruel to keep him in the dark, don’t you think?”

“Tigress?” Wally asked. She didn’t answer, focused on Savage. Her thoughts had stopped chasing each other, frozen, waiting for his next words. A horrible chill crawled down her spine. She’d known she’d have to bring Wally with her if she was to have any real chance of getting Nightwing out. And she’d known how unlikely it was that she would actually get either of them out at all. She’d known that. She still made the choice to bring him. And now… now she could play Savage’s game, or let Savage play her. It didn’t matter too much - the results would be about the same. But one gave her a chance to change how this ended.

Maybe the goddesses - if they existed - would forgive her for what she was about to do, one day.

As if she watched someone else, she saw herself release Wally’s arm and grab his shirt with her other hand, dragging him close. He choked as her muscles bulged with the effort of lifting him in the air. Green eyes stared down at her, wide with shock. “So trusting, as always.” The words came from her, so they had to be hers, but it sounded so odd to her ears. She tossed him towards Nightwing. He landed hard on his back. She stalked towards him as he pushed himself to his elbows. “Isn’t Zatanna your friend?” A boot came to rest on his chest, pushing him back down.

Wally stared up at her, jaw slack. Behind Wally, Nightwing stared at her too from behind his the crystal prison. “Didn’t she warn you about me?” She asked, still with that strange voice. Silent words formed on Wally’s mouth.

She removed her boot, backing up a step or two. “You- you were working for him? B- But-” His voice tripped over the words as he stood shakily. “But Artemis gave you- You said-”

“Didn’t anyone teach you not to trust strangers?” He stared at her, betrayal plain on his face.

“You were working for Savage?!” An amused snort came from somewhere to her side.

“You and Nightwing, such naivete, assuming that I must be on your side.” Even as she talked, part of her remained focused Savage. He was the most dangerous player here; once he got bored with this, it was over. “Never thinking to ask if I was lying. And all that crap about Artemis? Hah! You should’ve seen the look on your face!”

Nightwing hit the crystal with his fists, trying to yell something, but on this side of his prison it was so much muffled nonsense. She ignored it, pacing back and forth as she taunted Wally. One of her hands fiddled with the buckle of the sword strap across her chest, loosening it. Even if the goddesses forgave her, Wally wouldn't. All she could hope for was that would live through this ordeal.

Wally’s expression changed - good,  _that_  had made him angry. He backed up too, stance shifting. It was something she hadn’t seen for seven years, but she knew exactly what it meant. Back then, it would have been effective. But that was then.

He charged at her, with as much speed as he could summon. But he was barely a few feet from her; even if he’d been across the room, it wouldn’t have enough room for him to build up enough speed to stop her now. As soon as he started moving towards her, she jerked at the sword strap. It came loose, and her other hand caught the sheath as she swung it across to her front. She held it out and away from her as she sidestepped, catching Wally on his stomach. She dug her heels in, using it to shove him away from her. He stumbled back, gasping and coughing for breath. She followed him, forcing him back more. He fetched up against the wall, near Nightwing.

“Let’s see, what was it? ‘Hero’s need a secret identity’? Did it ever cross your mind that I might have decided to take your advice? I admit, I’m disappointed. I thought you were sharper than that. You  _were_  almost sharper than that. But then you decided to believe me.”

He looked up at her, blood draining from his face. “ _No._ ” The denial came out as a whisper; he was still struggling to regain his breath from the blow.

“Yes.” Her lips curled upwards. She thought that maybe it was a smile. It felt like a grimace. “Like I said, you didn’t fail Artemis. Though, you’re right. You really  _are_  slow.”

She flicked her eyes over toward Savage. He stood there, arms crossed. He seemed to still be smirking but she couldn’t tell what he thought beyond being vaguely amused. But what the amusement was from, she couldn’t tell.

“You have any need for this one?” She asked lazily, as if bored.

Savage shook his head. “Dispose of him.”

“A- Artemis?”

She returned her gaze to Wally. “Would be more fun if he has his friend to play off of. They might think they can even do something.” She forced herself to idly muse as she pulled out her sword, tossing the sheath aside. She could almost hear Savage weighing her words.

A twist of her wrist, and she felt a stream of power run from her chest, down her arm, and into the sword. It began to glow with light, brightening as she fed it more power. Waiting for Savage to make a decision, she drew her crossbow with her other hand, loaded before they’d entered the room, and pointed it at Wally’s legs.

“Well. Why not? Amuse me.” She heard cloth shift, and then the crystal holding Nightwing disappeared. He stumbled, the support he’d been leaning on suddenly gone. _Finally._ Tigress stared at Wally a beat more, eyes boring into his, then struck.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: blood, violence, injuries, death (on page)

The crystal holding Nightwing disappeared. He stumbled, the support he’d been leaning on suddenly gone. Tigress stared at Wally a beat more, eyes boring into his, then struck.

She spun away from Nightwing and Wally and the all too visible hurt. Savage came into view - she didn’t bother to aim the crossbow at a particular part, just fired at his torso. He blocked the bolt with an armored arm. The angle was bad - instead of punching through the armor, it skidded off to land somewhere. But that wasn’t the point. She tossed the crossbow aside as soon as she fired. It was dead weight now; she’d have no time to reload.

She didn’t stop moving though, bringing her sword around in an upwards slash. She was too far to hit him with the actual blade. But the power she’d fed into it could reach him. Light flared in the sword’s wake, burning blue at its core and orange at the edges. It sped across the distance to Savage, who brought up his hands to block it. It struck, and Tigress swung her sword through empty air again, having already charged another attack. Glancing back, she saw that neither Nightwing nor Wally had moved. They stared at her, with twin dumbfounded expressions. She swore under her breath. Did they think she could keep doing this forever?

A flicker in the corner of her vision drew her attention back to Savage. He was unharmed except for scorch marks on his hands, visible through the light gathering in them. It was brighter than what she’d managed and threw the room into stark relief. She resettled her grip as the ball of light grew bigger. Then it stopped growing, and he flung it at her. She didn’t dare dodge, not with Wally and Nightwing still behind her. She swung at the energy flying towards her. To her relief, it worked just as it had in the Forest Temple. It rebounded off her sword and flew back at Savage. Then, to her dismay, Savage casually knocked it back to her. When she struck again, the energy ball missed Savage, flying past him to hit the wall behind him.

He laughed at her. “Truly, I should never have doubted you. Very nice performance by the way. Though disappointing in the end. I was going to simply rip your Triforce piece from you, let you die quick since you did find all the sages as you promised. But I told you to amuse me, and you haven’t.” He shook his head. Tigress risked a quick look - they were gone.  _Good._  She wanted to sag with relief. “So I’m afraid this is going to hurt.”

* * *

Wally ran. It was better than thinking. Tigress was Artemis? She was alive? She’d lied to him? He didn’t know what to feel. He was angry. And resentful. And relieved, and sad. Different emotions warred for dominance, and it  _hurt_ , squeezed his heart tight and made it hard to breath. But he carried Nightwing, still too dizzy from the blow to his head to walk even with support. He needed to get his friend out of here. Everything else could wait for later.

A shriek came from above, too high pitched for it to have been Savage’s. Then silence. Wally found that he’d stopped, straining to hear more - still be alive, still be alive,  _still be alive_  - and dreading it. Nightwing shifted. “Wally, we got to keep moving.” How was he supposed to do that? His feet felt like lead, too heavy to move. But he had to move, get Nightwing somewhere safer. So he forced himself to move, trying not to cringe when another shriek echoed through the castle.

They managed to get down the stairs and across the bridge. Wally sat Nightwing down one of the a smaller boulders outside the castle, away from the walls. He examined his friend’s head gently as he could with shaking fingers. Nightwing hissed when he found the wound in the matted dark hair. “That needs stitches.”

“Not til you’re more whelmed,” Nightwing responded, pushing Wally’s hands away. “You okay?” Wally didn’t respond. “Wally, talk to me.”

“Not really, no.” Wally hunkered down in front of Nightwing. “I- I don’t know what to think.”

Nightwing was quiet. He felt steadier now that he was sitting, but it was still hard to focus. He didn’t even remember getting hit and then captured, but he knew it must have been so hard that he immediately blacked out. A headache throbbed behind his eyes, threatening to grow bigger. “I think…” he said slowly, trying to put thoughts in some sort of sensible order, “I think she did get us out of there. Whatever the rest of that was.”

Wally nodded. That seemed to be true. Behind him, a low rumbling sound grew louder and louder. Looking up, he saw that the castle seemed to be shaking.

“Wally?” Nightwing’s voice was far away. He ignored it. She had gotten them out, whatever lies she had spouted to do it. Maybe he could return the favor.

* * *

Blood flew. So did pieces of flesh that used to belong to bodies. It soaked the temple walls and floors. Raquel stood, axe in hand, ready to use. She’d already used it a little bit. Several dead bodies lay before her, many in pieces. She had let Savage’s army had come to her, and as befitted the Sand Goddess’s greatness, her visitors had split up to admire the temple. But it seemed like no one else cared to view this area. So she stepped out of the room to find new guests to great.

Similarly, the Water Temple found itself entertaining company. These arrivals, though, swam, and swam badly. It may have had something to do with how the water suddenly seemed to grow teeth.

The Shadow Temple had only one intruder. The rest watched what happened to it, then decided as one that they had more pressing duties elsewhere. Like the Fire Temple, whose floors and walls weren’t made of hands. On the way up, they encountered the remains of the first guests Conner and the Gorons had greeted. Then were subsequently greeted by Conner and the Gorons.

Every single caller to the Forest Temple arrived. Though some were a little clumsy in their new stalfos form. One by one, M'gann welcomed them into her temple. The traps the two Roy’s had left would finish the job.

* * *

Inside the castle, the shaking was worse. Stones were starting to fall from the ceiling. They were small, but Wally didn’t doubt larger ones would soon follow. He didn’t bother searching for her on the ground floor, where the barrier had been. If she was here, he’d have already seen her - the path from the castle’s entrance to the inner keep was straight, no twists or turns to lose someone on. There was no shrieking now, beyond that of stone grating against stone. He took the stairs two and three at a time, not daring to think about what he might find. He almost passed the body, hidden as it was behind a larger fallen stone.

She was curled up, one arm bleeding and another holding the wound, uselessly trying to stop it. Her hair was a mess, caked with blood and sweat and dirt. She barely protested as Wally helped her to her feet. She still clutched her sword with her wounded arm. He saw no sheath for her to put it away in. So rather than carry her like he had Nightwing, he half dragged, half supported her down the stairs. Larger chunks were falling now, and Wally swore he aged several years all at once when one slammed down where they’d been seconds before. But then they were out, and at Nightwing’s rock. He tore strips from his shirt to make a bandage with, too focus to hear her protests til she kicked him.

“Fairies. Belt pouch.” She told him, trying to fumble at it with her free hand. Then she gave up, and pointed at it.

“Oh.” He opened it carefully, pulling out the bottles it held. Two were empty; the other two he used, one on Nightwing and one on her. The fairies swirled around the them, healing what wounds they could. The bleeding on her arm slowed, then stopped. Whatever the fairy healed on Nightwing wasn’t as obvious, but his color improved drastically.

Wally began to speak, only to be drowned out by the castle’s collapse. He turned to watch, not really believing it was happening even though it was crumbling before him. He could feel the other two standing beside him. He wondered if their eyes were as wide as his.

“It’s over.” Nightwing whispered beside him when the rubble seemed to have mostly settled. “It’s really over. We did -” The rubble moved.

The three of them froze. “No way,” Wally said. “There is no way he could have survived that.”

Tigress said nothing, only looked down at her sword. Painfully, she switched it to her other hand; her fingers hand cramped around it, she had gripped it so hard to keep from dropping it before. And something still felt wrong wit her elbow, despite the fairy’s healing. She tentatively bent her arm - it wouldn’t bend more than a little, though it didn’t hurt yet. That was something, at least.

The same spot moved again, smaller rocks and debri shifting. She strode forward, aiming for that spot. If Savage was at all alive under there, then her job wasn’t done. Wally stepped forward as she did, intending to follow, only to stop at Nightwing’s touch on his shoulder.

“Probably not -” Nightwing was cut off as the rubble blasted upward. Savage scrabbled to his feet, looking much worse for the wear, face bruised and bleeding. A strange glow formed about him, and he laughed mockingly when he saw Tigress standing nearby.

“A nice attempt! But -” He stopped, first blinking in surprise, then coughed, spitting up blood. He looked down to see metal extending from his torso. He followed it up to Tigress’s face. She sneered at him and pulled her blade free, letting him fall to his knees before her. The glow vanished. She watched him dispassionately, wondering if she might need to actually behead him.

Before she could decide, six different lights surrounded him, blinding her as they melded into one bright light. When she could see again, he had vanished. “ _It is done._ ” The words boomed in the air as all six sages spoke as one. “ _Savage has been sealed away. He will bother this land no more._ ”

She saluted the air with her sword. Finally. She was  _done_.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: character death (mentioned, off page)

Tigress had meant to give up the sword once Savage was defeated. To put it back, reseal the temple doors, return the spiritual stones, and… she wasn’t sure what came after that. She hadn’t actually planned beyond not wielding the Master Sword anymore, not really sure she’d actually survive to be able to do that. But she had, and now she was discovering things didn’t end quite that neatly like they did in fairy tales.

Just because Vandal Savage had been sealed away didn’t mean Hyrule was free and recovered from his influence. True, the redead in Castle Town had crumpled, becoming dead once more, but that seemed to be the only difference. Beyond that, nothing had changed, and Tigress found herself busy with hunting down all sorts of troubled pockets of Hyrule, from human bandits to monsters that she hadn’t had time to eradicate from the temples before.

Clearing out temples for good was easier this time around - it was a much easier task with the sages awakened, even if most of them were not at full power, each of them having repelled an army of creatures that Savage had sent to kill them. During the months it took to return Hyrule to something resembling peace, she was vaguely aware of plans to rebuild Hyrule Castle in a new location, of the Zora coming out of the deep freeze Savage had set on them and their home, and a continuing grudge between the Gerudo and Hyrule.

And of Nightwing not  _quite_  being done with being Nightwing, though he was supposed to be the prince once more, and soon king, according the the snatches of talk from when she had to pass through Kakariko. He would often drop in on her to “hang out”, if fighting monsters could truly be called that - aside from the one time he had spent the entire battle against five angry, hungry, seven foot long skulltulas hanging upside down. By the time Tigress had beaten them off, he had managed to cut himself a third of the way free from the coccoon web trapping him.

They didn’t really talk on those visits. Rather, she didn’t. Nightwing would, but mostly to himself, concerning how to deal with the people who didn’t want a ruler at all anymore, or, more troublesome, the ones that had preferred Savage’s rule. Often he’d talk about an older man he knew, Alfred, who she dimly remembered. Then one day, he didn’t mention him anymore - from the look on his face, Tigress could hazard a guess why. She didn’t press him about it. Nightwing never mentioned Wally except for once, a passing comment on changes to the redhead’s family ranch. She told herself she was happy about that. She knew she had deeply hurt him, when she’d told him how she lied. Had, actually, pretended to agree to work for Savage, to awaken all the Sages so he could kill them. And then turned around and had warned each Sage as they’d awoken. Except for Zatanna, but she’d been so  _angry_  and it turned out the sage had learned it from snooping anyway.

Wally had simply turned around and walked away from her after hearing all that. She didn’t blame him. Nor did she visit him; she had no business going near him when she had hurt him so badly.

A shadowed figure waited near the entrance to the Fire Temple. “There’s not as many oversized lizolfos here anymore, Nightwing, but don’t think I’m going to drop everything to save you from a like-like.” The shadow shifted awkwardly, restless, and Tigress felt her breath hitch.

“I’m not Nightwing. But noted. No help with like-likes.” Wally said.

“Wally?!”

“Yeah.” He stepped forward into the light. “Nightwing - Dick - said you were still stomping out things in the temples and the like. Thought you might want some company.” Tigress gave him a slow appraising look. The set of his jaw suggested he would come along anyway, even if she protested, unless she tied him up or something to that effect.

“So long as you brought enough food for yourself. I don’t have extra for you.” He nodded. “And - and if you tell me why.” She finished in a rush.

Crossing his arms, he shook his head. “Tell me why you still go by Tigress, Artemis.”

She scowled at him. “Because I’m not her.” Seeing him beginning to protest, she cut him off. “I’m  _not_. Yes, this’s the same body, but in a way, Artemis _did_ die. If I was going to survive, to make it back here in one piece, I had to change who I was. You have  _no idea_ what I went through. The things I did to survive. I don’t… I don’t have the right to call myself Artemis anymore.”

He stared at her, less defiant now. “You could tell me. About when you were gone.”

She snorted. “No. You deserve to remember Artemis as someone you didn’t hate.” She would have strode past him, into the temple to fight monsters, where things made sense and it didn’t matter what she said, but he caught her arm, more of a touch than a grab. She might have thrown him into the wall otherwise. Instead, she stopped, waiting.

“I don’t hate you. I’m  _mad_  at you, a lot, but that’s nowhere near the same. And you asked me why?” She said nothing. A hand slid into hers, squeezed, and let go. “Because I’d want to relearn how to be friends.”

She stared at the far wall, not really seeing it. Then she shrugged and jumped down the hole, taking the short route down the ridiculously tall ladder. She grabbed it about halfway down - she didn’t need to break her legs. “What’s a like-like?” A voice called down from above.

She wound up saving him from one after all.

* * *

It took two years to build Hyrule Castle anew. It took longer to crown Prince Richard as king and Zatanna as his queen. Comparatively, it took little time - though almost as much energy - to squelch the offer to make Tigress a Hylian Knight. Or their commander. It took a lot more time for Wally to accept that she’d turned the position down.

“For the last time Wally, I don’t actually like swords. And knights, especially the Knights of Hyrule, are all about swords. I  _much_  prefer my bow.” She’d gone back to a proper recurve bow soon after Savage’s defeat. She had liked her crossbow, but it hadn’t been the same. “Just because I’ve used a sword for goddesses know how long -”

“Nine and a half years,” Wally supplied, walking beside her.

“Thank you  _ever_  so much,” she growled, elbowing him. He dodged, grinning at her. “So I’ve used a sword a while. Doesn’t mean I ever actually wanted to use it.”

“So you’re really gonna…?” He trailed off.

“Yeah, I am. I promised, didn’t I?”

“I guess.” He dodged her elbow again, only this time he wasn’t grinning.

The dim hallway echoed with their footsteps; the torchlight from the room behind them didn’t reach this far. Ahead the hallway opened up onto a very plain, bare circular room. The only light came from there, from a single window high, high up on the wall. Wally grabbed her hand when she would have stepped from the hall into that room.

“Artemis. You… you disappeared before.” His grip tightened nervously. “Are you going to disappear this time too?”

She opened her mouth to answer and then closed it with a click, thinking better of her first choice of words -  _‘I came back, didn’t I?’_  - because that was still a sore spot between them. “I don’t know Wally. If I get a choice this time, I won’t.” He nodded at her and let go. He looked like he wanted to say something more, so she waited there a moment, but he just turned his face away and made an awkward gesture at the low platform in the room.

“Try to come back, if you do?”

“Yeah.”

She walked up to it, unsheathing her sword, looking down at the Master Sword’s resting place. Then looked up again when she heard Wally come up in front of her. “Wally?”

“I…” He began, then bit his lip. He looked down, then at the sword, then at her again. “I’ll wait, if you disappear again. Um.”

She reached out to brush his cheek with her free hand. “You don’t have to.”

“I know.” His eyes were serious as they met hers, and he caught her hand with his, pressing it softly against his cheek. Her eyes widened a little. “But I also know what it’s like, not having anyone waiting for you to come back. So.” Even in the dim light, she saw his face turn pink.

She swallowed. “Wally, I-” She drew her hand back from his face as heat rushed up her shoulders and to her face. His face seemed to turn even redder, and his eyes looked anywhere but at her. “I… Um. Thanks?”

He nodded, shrugging awkwardly.

“Well then.” She inhaled deeply, raised the sword, and plunged it down.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: vague references to abuse, dissociation due to time travel shenanigans

She was never able to describe later exactly  _what_  happened; she couldn’t find words that seemed to fit the grandness of it. Over time, she came to forget it entirely, beyond a vague image of something massive and golden.

* * *

The rain had turned the road into mud. It made running a slipper, mucky mess, but he ran anyway. He’d long ago passed the first horse, the one pursuing his friend. It was still storming, and the rain and thunder made it hard to hear beyond his own breath. It was hard to see, the only light he had to go by, besides lightning strikes, was the lantern his friend’s riding partner carried.

For that reason, he pursued from the side of the road, where he might not become too familiar with teh galloping horse’s back hooves. For that reason, he overshot when the rides came to an abrupt stop.

By the time he got back to them, feeling more mud-creature than human, the storm had slackened, letting some hazy daylight through. So he could see that the riders had dismounted, Alfred kneeling in the muddy road next to the horse, trying to console a sobbing Dick that clutched at the man desperately. “Um, hey. Everything okay?” Wally asked, even though it obviously wasn’t. Dick was far from stoic, but he didn’t normally have a breakdown in the middle of the road in a storm, either.

Alfred looked back up the roadfrom the way they’d come. “I do not know, Wallace.” Though he’d tried, neither Dick nor Wally could get Alfred to use his nickname. “If that man is still pursuing us -”

“I’ll check!” Wally volunteered. “Be back in -”

“He’s gone.” Dick drew away from Alfred with a sniffle. “Gone.”

“Okay…? But gone where?” Wally tried to wipe mud from his shirt - it just smeared. “Back to the -” He cut off his own question as a strange sense of foreboding choked him. Something whispered in his mind, answering him.  _Back to the castle. Back to Artemis, and then, and then -_ The thought faded to silence. His heart beat fast in his chest, faster than it should even if he’d just been running. He didn’t remember making the decision to run, faster and faster and  _faster_ , pushing himself, urged on by a fear in his chest that came from nowhere.

He skidded to a stop at the fountain in Castle Town’s main square, gasping for air and eyes darting every which way, trying to decide where he needed to go. All he knew was that he felt a need to find Artemis,  _now_  wherever she was. He groaned in frustration and sprinted towards the castle. He returned almost immediately, rebuffed by the tripled guards on the gates.

“No one visits the castle, child. Off with you, before we have to get ugly.” One of them had growled. Wally didn’t argue. And come to think of it, the only reason he could think of that Artemis would go to the castle would be to visit Dick. But they knew Dick wasn’t there right now. The prince had thrown an ocarina - his  _family’s_  ocarina, which made no sense to Wally - at them as he and Alfred had galloped past. So where would she be?

He checked everywhere in town he could think of, starting with the shooting gallery. “Maybe she went somewhere else?” He muttered to himself. He was getting hungry and tired, but the foreboding that had gripped him earlier had yet to let go. Looking up, he realized there was one place he hadn’t checked yet.

The sounds of Castle Town grew fainter as he approached the temple. Inside, when he saw the spiritual stones glittering on a stone platform, he knew he’d found the right place. She’d been her and he -

He was late?

He frowned. How could he be late? He hadn’t had any plans to even be here, after all. But there was still a sense of  _lateness_  that bothered him. And he didn’t see Artemis. He ran up the steps to the hallway behind the platform. It led to a small, empty room. He circled the room, as if seeing it from a different angle might make it less empty. _Too slow. Always too slow. And now she’s gone and it’ll be bad. Bad bad bad bad_ bad-

Wally grabbed at his hair and tugged at it sharply, trying to make the weird thoughts stop. “No. She’s just stepped out. Gone to get some food. It’s noon after all.” He didn’t believe his own words, even though they made more sense than the voice in his head.

He turned to leave, because he was  _hungry_  and maybe he’d think better after, and immediately stumbled, sprawling face first onto the floor as he suddenly felt much heavier than normal.

“Woah, you okay Wally?” His extra weight disappeared.

The foreboding and fear that had been churning in his stomach vanished. He rolled over to see Artemis kneeling next to him.

“Yeah. Never been better.”

* * *

She had picked up the sword, and light blinded her. She tensed, suddenly overcome with a sense of terror, that there was someone here, a tall man with blond hair and brown eyes, who’d finally found her and would take her away, and she didn’t want to go, didn’t want -

There was no one here.

No one was here.

She took in deep gulping breaths, trying to calm down.

There was no one here.

Then the light was gone as suddenly as it had come. She felt ground - stone - under her feet again, and she backed away from where she’d drawn the sword. No wonder it was locked up, that was creepy. She promptly fell backwards, forgetting there had been steps behind her.

Her landing was soft though, and she scrambled to one side, off of the body that had broken her fall. “Woah, you okay Wally?” She asked as he rolled over. He stared at her, freckles dark against unusually pale skin.

“Yeah. Never been better.” He grinned at her suddenly and sat up, pulling her into a hug. She patted his shoulder awkwardly.

“Um. I wasn’t gone  _that_  long,” she said when the hug didn’t end.

“Oh! Er. Sorry.” He let go, blushing a bit. He still looked oddly pale.

“When’d you last eat?” She asked even as she pulled out one of her pouches of food. Goodbye, lunch and dinner. She thrust it into his hands, not waiting for an answer, and left the small, empty room.

She waited til he caught up to her, munching on the food she’d shoved at him, before picking up the forest’s spiritual stone. The doors that had hidden the Master Sword slowly ground closed. “What’re we doing now?” He asked through a moutful of food. “Because it should involve food. Food that’s not nuts and berries. Not that I’m complaining,” he hastened to add as she side-eyed him.

“If you can get me to the forest before nightfall, I’ll get you as much food as you want.”

He blinked at her, then poured the rest of the pouch’s contents into his mouth. He handed it back to her. “Can do,” he said once he’d swallowed.

* * *

He carried her on his back all the way to the forest and into it. She belatedly made him stop when she recognized the trees that marked the edge of the village. “You need to hide,” she told him, getting off his back. She pushed him into a large bush, one without the thorns that would have cut him to pieces. “This’s a good spot. And be quiet! Stay here til I come back.” She ran off, not giving him a chance to argue.

She ran over the rope and plank and bridge, through a hollow log of some ancient dead tree, and down the main path of the village. Her fingers anxiously clutched at the emerald. Something told her that she had to hurry, that this wouldn’t work after tonight.

The village was eerily empty, seemingly devoid of any life that didn’t belong to a plant. The reason for that showed itself as the Great Deku Tree came into view. The entire village was here, gathered in a cluster at the base of the tree. Most of the tree’s leaves were brown, and the bark no long had the gleam of health it used to have. But it was still alive, if only barely. “Roy!” She shouted, and a head shot up out of the crowd.

“Artemis? What do you think you’re -” She cut off his complaint by shoving the emerald into his face.

“Here! Can you use it?” He stared at the stone, then at her, then grabbed it and whirled back to the Kokiri. She fell to her knees, not so much out of breath as needing to sit before she shook herself apart. A soft green light bloomed from behind the bodies blocking her view. The Kokiri began to murmur excitedly. Then the light faded, and the excitement grew louder. M'gann struggled out of the crowd and came to hug Artemis.

“The tree’s ailment is gone.” She sniffled against Artemis’s shoulder. “It’ll live now.”

Artemis wiped the tears from her friend’s face. “So that worked?”

M'gann nodded, nodding even as more tears rolled over her cheeks. “I didn’t even know that was possible,” she said. “How’d you think of …” M'gann trailed off as the growing celebration behind them suddenly cut off.

“Who’s  _that_?”

“His clothes are weird.”

“Not a skullkid.”

Artemis frowned, looking at the crowd of Kokiri. None of them seemed unfamiliar, though she had the strangest feeling of not having seen most of them for  _years_. They looked back at her - no, beyond her. She realized who their comments must be referring to. She turned to glare at Wally. He looked back at her sheepishly.

“A human. A  _human_ , in  _our_  woods.” That was Roy, sounded as disgusted as he had the day she had outshot him during archery practice. “Please don’t tell me you brought it back with you.”

“I’m not an it!” Wally protested. She closed her eyes briefly in exasperation, feeling a headache coming on.

“You were supposed to stay where I left you,” she hissed at Wally as he came to stand next to her.

“Artemis, you  _didn’t_.” M'gann whispered, eyes wide with shock as she began to pull away.

“Not into the village!” Artemis whispered back hotly.

“Are these your friends? Didn’t know so many kids lived out here. Woah, is that a  _body_?” He stood on tiptope, trying to see over the Kokiri better. Artemis stood, trying to shush him, but too late.

Roy, always armed, nocked an arrow to his bow and took aim. Other Kokiri were grabbing weapons of their own, mostly stones and deku sticks, but some with slings, others also with bows and arrows. Artemis took one look at them and knew there was little chance of rescuing the situation, at least with Wally present. She discared all the explanations she’d been thinking up the second she’d realized he’d followed her and crafted a new plan.

“Run.” She told him. He just looked at her, brows furrowed in concern. “ _Run!_ ” She repeated, shoving at him. He blinked at her,  _slowly_ , to Artemis’s frustration, and then to her growing horror, picked up her up and took her with him.

“What are you  _doing_?” She shrieked. Roy, M'gann, the other Kokiri, the Great Deku Tree - it was all turning into a blur as Wally picked up speed. Artemis turned her head, watching over Wally’s shoulder as the figures grew distant, replaced by a blur of green and brown.

“There was a dead body, no way I’m leaving you you behind to -” They both yelped as he stumbled and fell, sending them both flying. Artemis curled up, hands going up to protect her neck and head as she fetched up against a tree. Wally hissed as he sat up, trying to bring the back of his elbow into view to better see his newly acquired scrape.

“Green Arrow’s not  _dead_ , he’s just -” Artemis began, then frowned. She  _felt_ ,just for a second, the Great Deku Tree’s trunk under her fingrs, plagued by bugs, dull and cracking and  _dead_. Then the feeling was gone, as fast as it had appeared, and all she felt was the leaves and grit she brushed off her clothes. “Just resting.” She finished.

“In the middle of a forest?” Wally looked doubtful.

Artemis scowled. “Yes. There was a magic thing.” She said curtly. She didn’t feel like explaining about the Kokiri, about being bound to your tree’s life, how Green Arrow’s tree had been dying, at least until now. She knew Wally well enough now to know that it’d just lead to endless questions, especially about how the magic had saved the tree and thus Green Arrow, and she didn’t know how any of that worked, just that it had.

Wally crossed his arms, sniffing in disapproval. “Well, your friends didn’t seem all that friendly.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “We don’t exactly welcome outsiders here.” That was true enough. He didn’t need to know about the rest, that he’d have been turned into a stalfos or skullkid if he’d stayed.

“Could’ve food me,” Wally commented. “So, which way back out of the forest? Kind of getting dark.”

Artemis opened and shut her mouth a few times, taking a long look at their surroundings. It was completely unfamiliar to her. Even after a scramble up a tree, she still didn’t recognize anything. She couldn’t even spot the Great Deku Tree, which should have stood above the rest of the forest. “Way to go, kid genius. You got us lost.” She said as she reached the ground.

“Don’t you live here, though?” Her glare didn’t seem to have any effect on him.

“Doesn’t mean I know the  _entire_  forest.” She took a breath and thought for a moment. “Right now, we need to find shelter. It’ll do no good to wander about at night - too easy get lost.”

“I thought we were already lost.”

“Yeah, but…” How could she explain the feel of the Lost Woods, that things were repeating endlessly? She knew there were other places in the woods that would do that, and not all of them were willing to let anything they trapped back  _out_  even if the proper path through them could be found. She didn’t think the trees here were part of any such maze, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one nearby. “Nevermind. It’ll be safer to move in the day. Then we’ll head downhill - more likely to find water.”

“Oh, find a river and follow that out?”

“Something like that,” she answered. She grabbed his arm. “Come on, let’s find somewhere to rest. And no super speed stuff. We’re in enough trouble without adding a broken leg to it.”

Far, far behind them, brown eyes watched them leave and wondered if the two were friends. He’d missed having friends of his own. The Kokiri were nice, but he didn’t fit there, not yet, not while he didn’t want to bond with a tree. And what fun was that? He’d be stuck to one spot, protecting that tree. He wouldn’t be able to roam the woods as he pleased, teasing and taunting those who wandered too far from the safe paths. And it was a little bit lonely, sure, but he wasn’t alone right now. He gripped the shiny blue-shelled beetle he’d found as he followed the two out of the Kokiri village. “Let’s follow them. See if they’ll be my friends,” He told it, tracing the outline of wings on the shell with gentle fingers. He jumped down from his hiding spot. Maybe he’d play a prank on them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 'true' ending that follows the game. The chapters after this are an 'alternate' ending (which, tbh, I personally prefer), and two side-stories, one focusing on Jade and one focusing on Dick and Zatanna, that take place before the start of the fic.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: vague mentions of child abuse

The house had been built on the southern border of the woods, as far from Kakariko village as it could be and still be in Hyrule. No one had lived in it for years, abandoned long before Savage’s rule. It still was, for the most part. Animals were the only ones who ever used it. And Artemis.

She rarely went there. She had been too busy with fighting monsters that had continued to plague the temples and various parts of Hyrule despite Savage’s defeat. And after, when she finally put away the Master Sword, she still hardly ever went there, usually preferring moving about to being still. Except for days like today.

Artemis leaned back against the wall, legs stretched out in front of her as she went over her stock of arrows, setting aside those that needed repair. It was quiet and secluded her. A nice place, even if the roof leaked and the door didn’t quite close. Here there weren’t people to bother her. There weren’t monsters to fight beyond those in her head. Only herself to deal with, until that became too much and she found herself roaming Hyrule once again.

At least, that’s how it was supposed to work.

She slowly raised her head from her work as the sound of hoof beats drew her attention. They stopped. She listened for a moment more, her pulse quickening. She couldn’t hear any movement, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any. Artemis stood as quietly as she could, setting her work aside. She no longer carried the Master Sword - it was back in the Temple of Time, had been for months now - but she had kept the weapons and various gear she had found in the temples. She had left the megaton hammer near the door; she picked it up now with one hand as the other rested on the doorknob, and waited.

There was a knock, and then a voice.

“Oh, for the love of -” Artemis flung the door open and glared at her visitor. Wally stood there, Wolf a few feet behind him.

“Hi.” The grin he flashed at her faded as he took in her scowl and the hammer. “Um. Bad time?”

“No.” She set the hammer back down; obviously this wasn’t going to be an attack on her life, just on her patience. “Why are you here?”

“Just, um, wanted to see you. Let you know I’m leaving.”

“You came here just to say ‘hi’ and then go back home?” She asked dryly, raising an eyebrow. That was pushing it, even for Wally.

“Not exactly.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, shifting in place awkwardly. “I, uh, kind of sold the ranch.” When she just stood there, dumbfounded, he flushed and continued. “I, I  _tried_ , I really did, but I - there’s just too much there, bad memories and, and stuff.” He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “So, I. I’m going. Have some family elsewhere, outside Hyrule. Thought I might go visit them for a bit. You know?”

“You’re leaving Hyrule?” She repeated, not sure if she’d heard right.

He nodded. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want Wolf, so, I, um, brought her along. But I’ll take her with me, if, if you don’t want to, so um…” He trailed off.

“I have nowhere to keep her.” She murmured distractedly, wide eyed, still caught on Wally’s intent to leave.

This was the last thing she had expected when she’d saw that Wally had come to bother her. Him deciding she was obviously in need of company - his usual excuse for bothering her when she retreated here - that would’ve made sense. Or him needing her help with something and deciding it had to be done right now. But not this.

“Okay.” He nodded again. “I’ll, um, see you. I guess.”

“Yeah?” This was surreal. She must have fallen asleep and was dreaming. It was a pretty warm day after all. That was the only reasonable explanation.

“I’ll be going then.” He gave her one last odd look, then turned and walked away. She watched as he mounted Wolf and rode off, then slowly shut the door. It creaked loudly, and stuck about an inch away from properly closing. She really ought to fix that. Turning around, she stared at the opposite wall without seeing it.

An hour later, the house stood empty once more. The door, for once, was closed. From its appearance, it had put up a good fight, though had lost the war.

She found him and Wolf by sundown. Wally looked up at her in surprise, sitting beside the little campfire he’d built. “Mhrmmrm?” His mouth was full of food.

She glared down at him and crossed her arms. “Just where are these relatives of yours? I’m not sure I trust you to find your way there without a map.”

He swallowed and coughed. “I have a map!” He protested when he was done. She gave him a withering look. “Okay, fine, I  _looked_  at a map. But you don’t need to worry about me, I’ll be -”

“Of course I’d worry about you.” She interrupted, sitting beside him. “I can hardly turn around without something attacking you.”

The statement was true, to an extent. Wally did tend to attract trouble. Which worked out fine - wolfos were easier to kill from behind. It was the way he’d managed to gather eight or nine wolfos at once that worried her.

“So, you…?” He asked, nudging her side with an elbow.

“So I’m coming with you.” She pushed at his shoulder. “Jerk. Making me come after you like this.”

He ducked his head to hide his unrepentant grin. “But it worked.”

She pushed at his shoulder again. “Give me some food. I refuse to go hungry if I’m going to be protecting your sorry butt.”

“Yes ma'am.” He mock saluted her.

It was far from a direct trip. Wally kept thinking of things to do and places to visit as little side trips, just half a day, that would take two days, three days, or more. She protested at first - how were they supposed to get to his destination within a year if he kept delaying like this? Then she realized this was the first time he’d ever been outside of Hyrule, ever seen any of these places. And unlike her own experiences with travel, it was exciting for Wally. He hadn’t been kidnapped to be turned into Savage’s pet hero, trained to survive all sorts of situations and tested on how to kill people. How to make the killing last.

She swallowed against the memories, pushing them away. That wasn’t her life anymore, hadn’t been for three years now, since the day she had maybe killed the man that had taken her away, calling himself her father. She still wasn’t sure if she was glad she’d never seen or heard of him since, because that meant he was probably dead after all. On the other hand, if he was dead she could stop being scared he’d reappear.

But all that was over now, and focusing on Wally was better. Safer. And not just for her mind - despite the way he kept finding things to delay them, Wally had a way of rushing about and getting into trouble. It was kind of fun, in a way. So she let him turn what should have been two week’s travel, at most, into a rambling three month journey.

Eventually, after far too long, they made it to Clock Town in Termina, near Wally’s other uncle’s home. She meant to leave him there - this was Wally’s family, not hers, she didn’t belong there - but for Wally’s wheedling. She must have gone soft, to have let his pleading work.

They reached the ranch as the sun was starting to set, the clouds on the horizon beginning to pick up hints of orange. At the top of a hill were was a two-story house. Two people walked out of it, arguing cheerfully until they saw the visitors walking up the path to the house.

It turned out that Barry and Iris Allen were just as welcoming as Wally’s parents had been, even before they recognized their nephew. Before Artemis had realized, she’d been fed and a pallet had been put out for her on the ground floor. When she caught up with events, she tried to protest, but it was already storming outside. She allowed herself to be talked into staying the night.

But she didn’t sleep. Artemis lay awake, feeling tired but not actually sleepy, absently watching the light from the banked kitchen fire flicker on the ceiling. Under the grumbling of a roll of thunder, she heard something thump on the stairs, bringing her to full alertness. Another thump, and she sat up slowly, quietly as she could. She doubted that whoever was coming down the stairs intended to attack her, but her pulse quickened anyway. She could never be too careful, what if -

A third one, followed by a series of whispered swears. Artemis relaxed. It was just Wally. There were several more thumps before he reached the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t seem surprised to see her sitting up on the pallet, watching him.

“You’re loud.” She whispered as he came closer.

“Kind of meant to be. Except stubbing my poor toes. That as an accident.” He sat down beside her and rubbed the mentioned extremities, mock scowling at the stairs. “Didn’t want to wake everyone up, but didn’t want to surprise you either. Especially not after the way you tore Bart a new one earlier.”

Artemis looked down, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “I’m sorry I don’t surprise well.” She muttered.

Wally snorted with amusement. “Don’t be. He  _was_  warned not to sneak up on you, and did it anyway.”

“What’re you doing up anyway? Thought you were exhausted.” Artemis asked, not wanting to talk more about that incident.

“Catching you before you decide to sneak off in the middle of a rainstorm.” Thunder growled as if to confirm that while the rain had slackened for the moment, it could easily change its mind. “I heard you say earlier that you were going to leave tomorrow.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And  _why_? We just got here! Stay for a few days! Rest!”

She rolled her eyes at him. “This trip took two months longer than necessary, Wally. I’m already rested.”

He crossed his arms and glared at the floor. “So you’re going to leave, just like that? Like, like I was some package to deliver, or -”

She shook her head. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what  _is_  it like?”

She sighed. How could he be so dense sometimes? “This place - it’s  _yours_ , Wally. You have family here. You belong.”

He studied her for a long moment before asking, “And you don’t?”

“Haven’t you been paying attention, Wally? I get startled by the littlest things and get mad and -” She broke off, not really sure what she was trying to say anymore. “Anyway, it’d be weird if I stayed. This isn’t exactly my place. Not that I have one. I  _try_  and it kind of works, but not really. So.”

“I don’t think it would be. And you do have a place of your own, Artemis.”

“What, that run down shack? That’s not -”

“No. Not there. Here.” He picked up one of her hands and pressed it to his chest, over his heart. “You have a place right here.”

She stared at him, jaw slightly ajar. His face reddened in response, starting at his ears and crawling over his cheeks and down his neck, but didn’t let go of her hand.

“Are you confessing to me?” She asked once she managed to remember how to speak.

“If you want.”

“And if I don’t want?”

“… Then you don’t want. Doesn’t change you having a place here.”

She leaned forward, touching her forehead to his. She hadn’t realized Wally could turn that particular shade of red.

“I hurt you before.” She whispered. “What if I did that again? What then?”

His eyes darkened as he considered his answer. “Then I don’t know,” he said slowly. “That… It’d take work, to fix. To rebuild what was burned down.”

“What, so there’s a house in your chest or something?”

He shook his head, grinning at her. “You know what I mean.”

Her fingers twisted in his, and she shifted to rest her head on his shoulder. “I’m tired, Wally.”

“So rest.”

There was a long silence, broken only by the rain picking by up. And Wally’s voice. “Are you falling asleep on me?”

“No. This’s comfy, that’s all.”

Another pause, and then: “Didn’t you say that you’d rather lean against a spiked wall than me because I’m too boney?”

“Exactly.” She squeezed his hand lightly.

“Oh.” He blinked a few times as understanding dawned on him. “ _Oh_.” She squeezed his hand again.

“But you were leaving tomorrow.” His voice was soft, almost lost in the storm’s grumbling. His fingers knotted worriedly into hers when she didn’t respond. “Artemis?”

“You should’ve told me that a while ago, Wally. That I had somewhere.” She whispered.

He rested his head against hers. “I thought you knew.”

They sat like that for a while, listening to the drumming of the rain, until Wally fell asleep on her and she got a crick in her neck. She sent him back upstairs so she could lie back down, finally feeling as if she might sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 'alternate' ending where time is not reset once the Master Sword is returned to its resting place. Tbh this is my personal preferred ending between the two, even if the 'true' one leaves room for Majora's Mask type adventures.


	15. Sidestory: Jade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: violence, abuse, child abuse

As bad as things had been before, this was always worse. She tried not to hear every shouted word, every crack of flesh on walls and furniture. Without her wanting to, her training told her where the two were probably standing in the next room. Who it was that had hit the table with a fist. Who had broken something on the floor. She didn’t need training to seperate their voices. Her only comfort was that there had not yet been the different thumps of flesh being hit. It had not come to blows yet, not this time.

Jade flinched as the yelling intensified, and her mind showed her the path this fight would likely take. She didn’t want to think about that. She didn’t. But she had to think about it, to some extent, so she could stay ahead. In case this too turned into training. In case she was supposed to assess it, see the arguers as strangers, not family. See how she might use the argument to her advantage - nevermind that she always failed that one.

She pressed herself further into the shadows when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps. But they weren’t approaching, they were leaving, and a door slammed. She waited, not moving, listening to the far less certain movements of her other parent. A door creaked open and shut. Then there was quiet.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to relax, muscle by muscle. She knew this pattern, knew that it would be hours before he returned. It suited her plans perfectly. Thinking of herself as nothing more than a breeze, a whisper, a shadow, she ghosted across the room, picking up her already prepared pack. She made no noise as she did.

Or at least, she thought she hadn’t. Her mother had been quieter than her, and trickier, somehow here in the common area, even though Jade had heard her leave, had heard the clumsy movements her mother moving around with legs that didn’t hardly work anymore. Jade halted as she locked gazes with her mother, then tossed her head defiantly. She stalked over to the pantry - food was the one thing she hadn’t been able to pack beforehand. She no longer bothered with being one with the shadows now that she’d been seen. She felt her mother watching her, an itch between her shoulders as she stowed away food that would keep.

It was when Jade turned to leave that her mother spoke. “In my room, on my bed. There’s a bag. Bring it here.” She hesitated - her mother couldn’t possibly catch her if she decided to ignore the order - then did as she was told. She let the bag thump on the table. Her mother caught her hands in the process. She held them lightly, thumbs rubbing softly against Jade’s palms. “I have a favor to ask you.”

Jade schooled her face into a blank mask even as she tried to guess what it might be. She never knew what to make of her mother. She wasn’t around often, and as a consequence, Jade found that she rarely assigned the right motives to her mother’s actions. That bothered her - as long as she knew what people wanted, from her or otherwise, she could keep at least some control of the situation. She rarely understood what her mother wanted, making her hard to predict. Nothing like her father.

Jade drew her hands away and turned to go once more. “I don’t want to.” She said haughtily.

“I want you to take your sister with you.” Her mother said as if Jade hadn’t already declined without asking what the favor was.

“Every girl for herself.” The door was a mere twelve paces away.

“Artemis cannot walk properly yet, Jade.”

“Neither can you.”

“Jade Nguyen!” The door is right in front of her, but she stopped anyway, cringing at the tone of her mother’s voice. “You do not talk your mother that way!”

Jade swallowed, trying to stay calm. She hated being yelled at, hated the way it made her stomach churn. She hated that she felt worse about making her mother snap at her in anger than she ever did about her father hitting her.

She didn’t apologize though, not really, only saying, “She’ll just slow me down.” Her mother has never asked for an apology anyway. Jade wondered if that was because she knew Jade wasn’t ever truly sorry.

“So run faster,” was the response.

Jade made a face. She knew her chances of actually getting away successfully were slim. She did not need to add a child that couldn’t even toddle properly. She turned to glare at her mother. “You just want me to get caught.”

“I wouldn’t ask you if I thought you unable to do it.” That wasn’t fair. How was she supposed to refuse now? “And I will do what I can to slow down any pursuit.” Jade refrained from pointing out that wasn’t that much her mother could do. She’d already been scolded once tonight. After a moment, Jade gave her head a toss. Okay, so her little sister was tiny and would make this even more difficult. But she liked a challenge. And it would be another metaphorical black eye she could give her father.

“Fine, I’ll take her. Did you have a babysitter in mind or should I just leave her at the first crossroads I come to?” She asked flippantly.

Her mother sat back, the slight tension that had been in her shoulders gone. “There is a forest. It will be safe for her there. Jade, I -” Her mother looked down, then back up at Jade once more. “I know I haven’t been much of a mother to you, so you might not want this from me, but… I would like it if I could send you off as properly as I can, as one of our warriors. It’s regrettable that a journey to the Goddess of the Sand is out of the question, but it’s not unheard of to forgo that.” She patted the bag Jade had brought in. “This is what I used, when I first began my training. I would like you to have it.”

Jade inhaled sharply, eyes wide with surprise. Then she came forward and sat, her back to her mother’s knees. “Okay, but you better not cry or anything.”

“Of course.”


	16. Sidestory: Spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: none

“I’m still not sure about this.” He muttered. He wasn’t Nightwing right now, only Dick. And not even really Dick, not exactly. He wore nondescript clothing, his armor put aside on a nearby table.

“Well, the Gerudo don’t allow men among them. So since you’re so insistent on needing to search their lands, it’s a bit necessary.” Zatanna said as she fussed with his short hair. “I don’t think you’re doing this to make fun of me, if that’s what’s bothering you.”

Dick shook his head. “I mean, some? But also… I don’t feel right. Um.” He flushed as Zatanna smiled lopsidedly at him. “Guess you’re pretty familiar with that. Sorry.”

She shrugged. “Nothing to apologize over. And once we find this temple, or confirm it’s elsewhere, you’ll be done being not-you.”

It turned out they shouldn’t have worried over appearances so much, and much more over their combat skills.

Traditionally, only women were accepted across the Gerudo borders, though on a probationary status. It was the entire reason for Dick’s altered appearance. They hadn’t expected the Gerudo to have changed that policy, to have instituted a combat trial for all visitors to avoid arguments of who was, in truth, a woman and who was not. Zatanna highly approved of the new system; Dick only wished it hadn’t resulted in a new scar on his arm. And that he’d thought to bring along a fairy or two for healing. But he hadn’t brought any, and the wound was on the back of his arm, almost on his shoulder, where he couldn’t see. So he did his best to sit quietly as Zatanna stitched the wound closed.

“I could remove the spell.” She offered as she worked.

“Let’s not, just in case. Besides, I’m getting used to the, ah, additions.” He tucked his chin in to look at his chest better, and Zatanna smothered a laugh.

Two stitches more and she had finished. “So, gonna be a princess then?”

“No. I didn’t have a sudden revelation there. But it doesn’t feel as, as different as before. I think.”

Zatanna leaned foward and kissed his cheek lightly. “If you’re sure. I’d know I’d be unhappy if I was in your shoes just now.”

Dick blushed brightly as she sat back. “R-really? But I thought you liked having breasts. I mean, you-”

“If I had to pretend I’m not a girl, a woman, is what I meant.”

“Right.” Dick swallowed and nodded, his blush spreading to take over his entire face, not just his cheeks. “Apologies. I didn’t mean, um, that you didn’t prefer breasts. Um. Having, I mean. Er.”

Zatanna grinned at him. “Try not to dig yourself too deep there, hm?” Dick shut his mouth with a click.

She stood up from the low stool she’d been sitting on and stretched. “Some people switch back and forth, you know. And some don’t want to be either.”

“And I’m pretty comfortable with being in the man category.” He stood too, carefully pulling his shirt back on.

Zatanna paused in cleaning up to watch him with poorly disguised discretion. She’d used magic to give him the illusion of breasts, but had done nothing to the muscles that rippled as he pulled the cloth over his head. Zatanna wasn’t sure if she liked the view more now, or if she preferred the one from before. She wondered if he’d be okay experimenting with her on that. Both were quite a sight and needed proper appreciation.

He finished dressing and caught her watching. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Liked the view.” She murmured, and he blushed again.

“We ought to focus on finding the temple,” he said, clearing his throat.

“Of course.”

Going across the sands without an escort was dangerous, but to Dick’s thinking, it was less dangerous than their guide turning out to be a supporter of the false king, especially if his identity as the prince was discovered.

So they snuck out of the fortress at night, without one. Zatanna used magic to get them across the river of quicksand that served as the fortress’s desert-side moat. They navigated the desert by means of wooden poles someone had planted. Red cloth, tied to almost every pole, snapped in the growing wind. When the came to a large stone structure, obscured by the sand blowing in their faces, they ducked inside, glad for the shelter.

“Hey, when do you think Artemis is going to return?” Zatanna asked after they’d brushed most of the sand from their clothes and hair.

“That’s the only thing the legends are unclear on. The thing is, most of them assume the hero isn’t going to up and disappear, right? But there’s a few that mention if the hero isn’t ready, then the hero gets sealed away in the Sacred Realms til they are. Exactly what constitutes being ‘ready’, though…”

“Is never defined?”

Dick nodded. “Yep.”

“Wonderful.”

“Yeah. Not too asterous. I just wish I had a stronger link with the sword.”

“Link?”

“Perk of the royal bloodline. I ought to have a sense the sword, and thus Artemis. Talk to her through it, even. But it feels… dimmed. As if there’s a heavy shade over a lamp.”

“Because she’s sealed off?”

“I hope that’s what it is.”

They listened to the sandstorm outside for a while. Then Zatanna asked, “Are you sure about this sealing and Sacred Realm business? What if she ran off and threw the sword in the ocean, or something?”

He snorted, amused. “If you’d had the chance to meet her, you know she’d never do that. Artemis is true to the bone, Zatanna. I don’t know what’s keeping her from being ‘ready’ to return, but it’s not because she’s afraid. I’m certain of it.”

Zatanna shrugged. “But it’s not impossible?”

“I’d sense the separation, if she did do that.” Zatanna bit her tongue against commented that he had just got done saying his magical sword sense wasn’t working. “She’ll return, Zatanna, don’t worry.”

“I just hope it’s not gonna take another six years. I don’t think there’d be any of Hyrule left to save. And Wally…” She trailed off.

“Yeah.”

Eventually the sandstorm ceased, and they went on to find the temple. He did whatever it was he did to divine the warp melody. Then they returned to Hyrule, and Dick went back to how he preferred to look, and back to being Nightwing.

But despite Dick’s reassurances, Zatanna couldn’t help but wonder why Artemis hadn’t come back. What sort of hero would stay away so long?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! I apologize for taking so terribly long to actually finish crossposting this fic from tumblr. This was the first fic I wrote for Young Justice, and I think the difference between this work and my more recent works is, well, glaring. All the same, this was really fun to write, even if now I would tackle this idea in an entirely different way.
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


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